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The Chinese army’s newest recruit is a robot dog made by a start-up with funding from major venture capital firms.
The debut of the robo-dog, which the army has equipped with an assault rifle that it can fire, was a “major highlight” of joint exercises carried out by the People’s Liberation Army and Cambodia this month, according to Chinese state television.
It is based on a robot dog made by Unitree Robotics, formally called Hangzhou Yushu Technology, which has received backing from top VCs including Neil Shen’s HongShan, formerly known as Sequoia Capital China; Matrix Partners China; and Shunwei Capital, set up by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun.
In February, the start-up raised Rmb1bn ($140mn) in a funding round that included food delivery app Meituan and made the group its biggest external investor, with an 8 per cent stake.
Unitree says it does not sell its products to China’s military; it is not known how the PLA procured the dog.
Even so, the PLA’s use of Unitree’s product highlights how difficult it can be for VCs and start-ups to ensure their investments in boundary-pushing technologies such as robotics are not militarised.
Corporate records indicate that HongShan and Matrix Partners China’s funding came from their renminbi-denominated funds, which would not include US investors, and which hold 7 and 6 per cent stakes in Unitree, respectively, according to business data provider Tianyancha.
However, the armed forces’ robo-dog demonstration is likely to reinforce Washington’s determination to make sure that US funding is not used to further China’s use of technology for military purposes.
The Biden administration, which has consistently argued that advanced technology can end up aiding China’s armed forces, announced an order last August that would restrict some US funding to the country, while US lawmakers have also stepped up scrutiny of investments in China.
Before splitting from Sequoia Capital last year amid rising US-China tensions, HongShan, led by managing partner Shen, raised nearly $9bn, about half from US pension funds and endowments.
Shen’s team first invested in Unitree in 2020 and has participated in several subsequent funding rounds, according to data provider ITJuzi.
Unitree said its products were manufactured for civilian use and that the company was not involved in deploying them for any military purposes.
“The company also does not have any contractual or business relationship with any military-related parties,” Unitree said.
HongShan said it did not “invest in businesses that operate for the purpose of facilitating or providing support to military use” and added that if anyone independently obtained Unitree’s products from third parties, that was beyond the control of the company.
Matrix Partners China, Shunwei Capital and Meituan did not respond to requests for comment.
PLA soldier Chen Wei told state TV that the robot dog with its rifle attachment could “conduct a firepower strike after discovering the enemy”, adding that “it has become a new team member for our urban attack and defence operations”.
The video shows Unitree’s name on the PLA’s remote-controlled robot dog, which jumps, comes to heel and leads an infantry team, firing a rifle on its back in an exercise.
Unitree’s robo-dogs first attracted attention during Shanghai’s 2022 Covid lockdown, when a local housing community strapped a megaphone on the back of one to bark orders at city residents.
These are Chinese troops’ robot dogs during the “Golden Dragon-2024” joint exercises with Cambodia. They can even shake “hands” with human!
Robot dogs can be so intelligent & flexible in key combat scenarios. pic.twitter.com/C6f2peHUIT
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) May 26, 2024
The state-owned nationalist tabloid Global Times quoted an unnamed expert as saying the drills showed that the PLA has been intensively testing robot dogs and their debut in joint military exercises meant the new platform had “reached a certain level of technical maturity”.
Unitree sells on Amazon robo-dogs similar to those used by the PLA and has also started marketing an Rmb99,000 humanoid robot.
US-China tensions have helped fuel a gold rush for defence start-ups in the US but have contributed to plummeting funding for Chinese groups, as American and other global investors pull back from investing in the country.
The situation has drawn the attention of President Xi Jinping, who earlier this month asked business leaders about it. “Why is the number of new unicorn companies declining?” he asked executives, according to state media. The answer was not reported.
