Unitree Robotics‘ founder, Wang Xingxing, has predicted that humanoid robots may need up to a decade to reach their “ChatGPT moment”, following the company’s successful market debut.
Wang shared his insights on the future of humanoid robots at the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Thursday. He anticipates a significant breakthrough, known as the “ChatGPT moment”, when a robot can accomplish approximately 80% of tasks in an unfamiliar home using only text or voice commands, reported CNBC.
This milestone could be reached within 2-3 years if progress is rapid, or 5-10 years if advancements are slower, Wang stated.
Wang’s latest forecast is more cautious, predicting the next "ChatGPT moment" will take longer than his estimate last year. ChatGPT’s 2022 launch sparked a major AI investment boom in tech stocks and data centers.
Wang said humanoid robots still lag behind human workers in efficiency and require retraining for new tasks, with movement precision, especially in the final millimeters, remaining a key challenge.
To address this, Wang disclosed that Unitree is creating a “self-evolving development loop,” where AI models write and test the robots’ control code, with each round of results used to improve the next version.
Unitree Boom Meets Cuban’s Robot Warning
Unitree Robotics experienced a significant surge in its Shanghai trading debut, marking a remarkable 629% increase from its IPO price. This robust debut has generated substantial paper wealth for early investors, including Wang Xingxing, whose net worth increased to over 107 billion yuan ($15.87 billion).
Meanwhile, Unitree’s record-breaking public listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market has brought attention to its supplier, Indie Semiconductor Inc. (NASDAQ:INDI). Indie Semiconductor is a direct silicon supplier to Unitree, providing radar chipsets, optical vision processors and mixed-signal SoCs. As Unitree uses IPO funds to scale robot production, higher output could directly boost orders for indie’s components, offering public-market investors exposure to Unitree’s hardware supply chain.
Billionaire Mark Cuban had earlier said that humanoid robots may be useful initially but will face limits in latency, processing power, dexterity and upgrade costs. He believes specialized robots will ultimately win by being faster, more efficient and cheaper.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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