New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has directed Galgotias University to vacate its space at the India AI Impact Summit on 18 February, after the Greater Noida-based university tried to pass off a Chinese robodog as its own creation.
Senior officials from the ministry confirmed to ThePrint early Wednesday that the university will no longer be part of the summit and has been directed to vacate the pavilion.
“The issue has been taken up by the ministry, and the university has been directed to leave,” an official told ThePrint.
Galgotias University came under the scanner after presenting a robodog, developed and commercially sold by the Chinese company Unitree, as its own.
“This is Orion. This has been developed by the Centre of Excellence at the Galgotias University,” Professor Neha Singh from the university had said.
Singh added that they were the “first private university investing more than Rs 350 crore in Artificial Intelligence”, with a dedicated “data science and AI block on the campus.”
As the video of the interview went viral, users on X quickly pointed out that the Unitree Go2 robot dog was developed by Unitree Robotics and was commercially available for $2,800.
Hours after social media erupted with criticisms, the university released a statement saying that it had never claimed the robodog to be its own creation.
“Let us be clear—Galgotias has not built this robodog, neither have we claimed. But what we are building are minds that will soon design, engineer and manufacture such technologies right here in Bharat,” it added.
The university said that they have sourced cutting-edge technologies from across the world, including the US, China and Singapore, to ensure that their students are exposed to global tech.
“It is not merely a machine on display — it is a classroom in motion. Our students are experimenting with it, testing its limits, and in the process, expanding their own knowledge,” it said.
When the university crew didn’t vacate the premises on their own, reportedly power was cut off at their pavillion.