Unitree Delays Release of Home Robots Due to Safety Concerns

Despite its growing popularity, Chinese unicorn Unitree Robotics is delaying the launch of its domestic robots, citing significant security concerns that remain unresolved at this stage.

Unitree Robotics Holds Off on Launching Household Robots

Unitree Robotics, a robotics unicorn from China, has surprised industry watchers by announcing it will not launch household robots anytime soon due to strict safety requirements, according to the company’s founder and CEO.

Safety First

Wang Xingxing, who founded the startup in 2016, mentioned that household robots would follow industrial models, as the company must “consider more safety issues,” he detailed in an interview with several government-affiliated media outlets, including China News Service and Guangzhou Daily. “It’s hard to predict exactly how long it will take, but I don’t expect it to happen in the next two or three years,” Wang added during a government event in Beijing.

Rising Prominence

Unitree and its founder have gained significant visibility since January, when their 1.8-meter-tall H1 robots performed a folk dance at the Spring Festival Gala, the country’s most-watched TV show. In February, Wang attended a major trade symposium hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, sitting in the front row. His partnership with AI startup DeepSeek has brought attention to Hangzhou, Unitree’s home city, overshadowing other tech hubs like Shenzhen. Nevertheless, Unitree recently established a new entity, Shenzhen Tianyi Technology, registered on March 5 with a capital of 100,000 yuan (US$13,800), with Zhou Changhui, who also represents Unitree’s entities in Beijing and Shanghai, as its legal representative.