At the 2025 World Robot Conference, Unitree's founder says humanoid robots could soon reach a breakthrough in intelligence.

According to the founder of the Chinese startup Unitree Robotics, the robotics sector may have a “ChatGPT moment” within the next one to five years. In an interview at the 2025 World Robot Conference, Wang Xingxing told the media, including Yicai, that the robotics industry's “ChatGPT moment” will come when humanoid robots can effortlessly pass a bottle of water to a person sitting in a crowded place in a strange setting, all while obeying the owner's commands.

The five-day WRC got underway in Beijing on August 8. Under the theme of enhancing the intelligence of robots and embodied agents, the WRC showcases worldwide progress in robotics and places a strong focus on the industrialization and advancement of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence.

Globally, AI technology for robots has advanced significantly in the past six months or so, Wang added. According to him, Unitree's robots, for instance, were able to run more smoothly and even traverse challenging terrain in recent months, whereas in January they had more stiff running movements.

According to Wang, the largest obstacle facing the humanoid robot sector is the continued lack of adequate, broad language models for embodied intelligence. He said that the embodied intelligence models' architectural foundation is insufficient and disjointed, which makes it challenging to employ vast volumes of data efficiently.

According to Wang, small and medium-sized teams still have the chance to make a significant impact in the creation of embodied intelligence models, but having more resources, money, or personnel does not guarantee that you will be able to create the best technology in the world.