The CEO of a Chinese robotics company whose stock skyrocketed 460% after going public this week said humanoid robots might still be far away from their own \u201cChatGPT moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old CEO behind robotics company Unitree, Wang Xingxing, said Thursday the industry\u2019s breakthrough, or \u201cChatGPT moment,\u201d could take \u201c2 to 3 years at the fastest, and 5 or even 10 years at the slowest,\u201d according to a translation of a speech he gave at the World Robot Conference in Beijing, previously reported by CNBC.<\/p>\n
Robots will only reach this point when they can be placed in an unfamiliar environment or a home and handle about 80% of tasks through voice commands or text alone, he said.<\/p>\n
Wang\u2019s comments reflect a shift from last year at the same conference, when he said<\/a> the breakthrough moment for robotics would come within five years at the latest. His statement also seemed to conflict with the outsized enthusiasm shown by investors who skyrocketed the company\u2019s stock 460% on Wednesday when it listed on Shanghai\u2019s STAR Market for the first time.<\/p>\n Despite having been founded by Wang a decade ago, Unitree became a household name in the robotics industry overnight last year after a viral video<\/a> showed the company\u2019s humanoid robots performing a coordinated dance alongside humans during the Spring Festival Gala broadcast on China\u2019s state TV.<\/p>\n Less than a month later, Wang was one of only a handful of executives seated in the front row, alongside BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu and Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, during a private enterprise symposium hosted by China\u2019s president, Xi Jinping in Beijing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cArtificial-intelligence-driven robots are evolving at an incredibly fast pace, surpassing my expectations. Every day brings new surprises,\u201d Wang told China state TV following the meeting, the South China Morning Post reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fast forward to this year\u2019s Spring Festival Gala, and Unitree again impressed the crowd<\/a> with its robots\u2019 more advanced moves that included backflips and leaps over platforms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n These feats culminated in Unitree\u2019s exuberant public listing this week, in which it raised $900 million at a valuation of $9 billion. After trading opened, Unitree reached a valuation of $66 billion, dwarfing U.S.-based robotics company Figure AI, which was last valued at $39 billion after a funding round last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n