Controversy has erupted over the participation of Galgotias University at the India AI Impact Summit, after the Noida-based institution was reportedly asked to vacate its stall for displaying a robot manufactured in China.
According to some participants at the summit in Delhi, the university was asked to remove its exhibit after objections were raised about a robotic dog showcased at its stall. The device was identified as the Unitree Go2, developed by China-based Unitree Robotics.
The university faced allegations that the robot was being presented as an in-house innovation. A video that went viral shows a professor referring to the robot as “Orion” and suggesting that it had been developed by the university. Another clip from the event appears to show students leaving the stall during the summit.
A source from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology stated that the government intended for the summit to highlight genuine, indigenous innovations. The source added that showcasing work from a “controversial agency” could mislead the public.
Galgotias had allegedly paid Rs 25,000 for the stall. Responding to the allegations, the university issued an official statement saying, “We at Galgotias, faculty and students, are deeply pained by the propaganda campaign against our university. We would like to clearly state that the robotic programming is part of our endeavour to make students learn AI programming and develop & deploy real world skills using globally available tools and resources, given developing AI talent is need of an hour.







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