Made in China, unmade at summit: Galgotias exits after robot fiasco

Greater Noida-based Galgotias University was made to vacate its pavilion at the India AI Impact Expo in New Delhi Wednesday following a row after one of its staffers presented a commercially available China-made robotic dog as the university’s own creation. Power supply to the pavilion was cut Wednesday afternoon, barricades were placed and university representatives, including faculty, were seen leaving the premises. S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, said the government wanted only genuine work to be showcased at the summit. “We want genuine and actual work to be exhibited. We don’t want a controversial agency which has misled the public,” he said. “This is an exhibition meant for demonstration,” Krishnan said, adding that while such exhibitions do not involve formal certification processes, they are not meant to promote misleading claims. “The idea is not for the exhibit to be used as an opportunity of some other kind.” Abhishek Singh, Chief Executive Officer of the IndiaAI Mission, said misrepresentation violated the terms exhibitors agreed to while participating in the expo. The Galgotias University, a private university, issued a statement, saying “confusion” was created after one of its representatives provided “factually incorrect information” while manning the pavilion. “We at Galgotias University wish to apologise profusely for the confusion created at the recent AI Summit. One of our representatives, manning the pavilion, was ill-informed. She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information even though she was not authorised to speak to the press,” it said. “We request your kind understanding as there was no institutional intent to misrepresent this innovation. Galgotias University remains firmly committed to academic integrity, transparency, and responsible representation of our work. Understanding the organisers sentiment, we have vacated the premises,” the university said. The row erupted after Neha Singh, a faculty member from the School of Management at Galgotias University, speaking to a TV reporter about a quadruped robot dog on display, said: “This is Orion… and this has been developed by the Centre of Excellence at the Galgotias University.” The institution, she said, was the first private university to invest more than Rs 350 crore in AI. Within hours, social media users identified the robot as the Unitree Go2, a commercially available quadruped manufactured by China-based Unitree Robotics and priced at roughly $1,600. On Wednesday, as criticism mounted, Singh said her comments had been misunderstood. “I may not have expressed things very clearly,” she said, attributing the controversy to the pace and enthusiasm of the interaction. “We did not change the branding. So how can we claim that we have manufactured this?” Ashwarya Srivastava, another faculty member of the university at the pavilion, also denied that the university had ever claimed to have built the robot dog, saying it was procured as part of a broader investment in AI so that students could study and experiment with advanced technologies. There was no clarity on who had cleared the Galgotias University exhibits. According to the India AI Impact Summit website, Indian and international corporates, startups, academic institutions, public sector undertakings, government bodies and ministries with AI-focused products, solutions or research innovations are eligible to exhibit. Exhibitors are required to first submit an Expression of Interest through the official website, after which submissions are reviewed and confirmed via email, following which booth details, costs and allocation in thematic pavilions are shared. Standard charges listed on the website show that academic institutions and research organisations are charged Rs 9,000 per square metre; domestic and international corporates Rs 25,000 per square metre; DPIIT-recognised startups Rs 12,500 per square metre; government ministries and states Rs 9,000 per square metre; public sector undertakings Rs 9,000 per square metre; and startup pods Rs 25,000 per pod. Standard shell scheme booths begin at 9 square metres. A Ministry of Electronics and IT statement, issued on February 3, stated: “Eligible participants – Startups, enterprises, research institutions, and AI organizations can register via the official website… Once the ‘Exhibit with Us’ Expression of Interest form is submitted by the organisation, the submissions will be reviewed and confirmed via email. The organisations will then be provided booth details, costs, and allocation in the thematic pavilions.”