Unitree Robotics founder Wang Xingxing revealed his biggest regret during Siemens’ RXD Summit in Beijing.
The CEO, whose company leads the world in humanoid and quadruped robot deliveries, said he wishes he did more to master artificial intelligence when he was younger. During a discussion with Siemens CEO Roland Busch, Wang said he was very interested in AI in the early 2010s as an undergraduate at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology in Hangzhou but there was a lack of resources. He couldn’t even find the books he wanted about it at the library.
“It was very, very unpopular,” he said.
Unitree Robotics Founder Reveals His Biggest Regret
— Mike Kalil (@mikekalilmfg) March 31, 2026
At Siemens' recent RXD Summit in Beijing, Unitree founder/CEO Wang Xingxing said he regrets not doing more to master artificial intelligence when he was younger.
Wang, whose company leads the world in humanoid and quadruped… pic.twitter.com/1yNYGxV8L2
He said he was particularly interested in neural networks because he felt they aligned with how the human brain works. Since it was a niche field with limited resources, he shifted his focus to mechanical engineering. He went on to make a name for himself by building legged robots on shoestring budgets, including a small biped robot he made with $30 worth of scavenged parts.
When studying for his masters at Shanghai University, Wang developed the quadruped robot XDog, which caught the attention fo tech investors and led to Unitree’s launch in 2016 with around $275,000 in capital. He said he looks back at the decision to not invest in AI during the early years as the biggest regret of his life.
“If I had continued working on AI back then, our company’s AI capabilities would be much stronger today,” he said.
The founder has said whoever unlocks true end-to-end autonomy (where physical AI systems can perceive, decide, and act in a single unified loop) could end up dominating the market. Unitree is one of hundreds of robotics firm around the world racing to achieve that breakthrough. The company reported shipping more than 5,500 humanoids in 2025 and supplies more than 60 percent of the world’s robotic dogs.
Siemens CEO Busch said the German industrial giant is working with the Chinese robotics firm to help turn its machine into real workers. Unitree uses Siemens’ technology to help train the robots, test them, and plug them into real production lines. They’re also using the software to help scale production as it aims to ship up to 20,000 humanoids in 2026.