U.S.-Funded Research Enables Chinese Robot Dog Success

The development of affordable robot dogs by Chinese manufacturer Unitree Robotics is linked to research funded by U.S. military programs, according to researchers involved in those projects.

Unitree's Go2 robot dog, introduced in 2023 for around $1,600, was a commercial success and helped the company capture a significant share of the global quadruped robot market.

The research that contributed to the development of Unitree robots included work on quadruped locomotion funded by the U.S. Army's DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory and other American military programs.

Gavin Kenneally, a former researcher at the University of Pennsylvania involved in the program, believes their work laid the foundation for early Unitree robots that could be manufactured at scale.