‘Made in China’ robot dog casts shadow over India AI Summit
A robot dog on display at India’s flagship artificial intelligence gathering has triggered political uproar after opposition leaders alleged a Chinese-made machine was being passed off as homegrown innovation.
The controversy erupted at the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, where a silver quadruped labelled “Orion” was showcased at a booth run by Galgotias University. The machine closely resembled the Go2 model produced by Chinese robotics firm Unitree Robotics.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi described the summit as a “disorganised PR spectacle,” raising concerns that foreign products were being highlighted while India’s own talent and data were underutilised.
The opposition accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of damaging India’s global image in artificial intelligence by allowing what it said was the projection of Chinese hardware as indigenous development.
Criticism was also directed at IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for allegedly promoting the display.
The row intensified after a video aired by state broadcaster DD India — later deleted — showed a Galgotias professor describing the robotic dog as developed by the university’s “Centre of Excellence.”
Galgotias University has denied claiming to have built the robot. In a statement, the school said it was the target of a “negative propaganda campaign” and insisted the device was used as a learning platform to expose students to “globally available tools and resources.”
“Let us be clear Galgotias has not built this robodog, neither have we claimed,” the university said in an earlier clarification, adding that its goal was to train students who would eventually design and manufacture such technologies.
The summit, held at Bharat Mandapam in the capital, was intended to showcase India’s ambitions in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
Apart from potentially sparking tensions between the two Asian giants, the issue also cast a shadow over Modi’s AI ambitions.
Earlier, the prime minister said he wanted to put India “among the top three AI superpowers globally, not just in the consumption of AI but in creation,” vowing homegrown technology would soon be “deployed worldwide.”
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
