His robotics company IPO'd this week. He still thinks a humanoid breakthrough will take years.
Unitree Robotics CEO Wang Xingxing predicts that a major breakthrough in general-purpose humanoid robots is still two to ten years away. Despite a successful $900 million IPO, the company notes that physical AI still faces significant bottlenecks in unstructured environments.
Why it matters
The robotics industry is currently experiencing a massive influx of capital, but experts are tempering expectations regarding the timeline for humanoids to perform complex household tasks.
Unitree CEO says general-purpose robots are still bottlenecked. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images Unitree Robotics CEO Wang Xingxing predicts a major robotics breakthrough in two to five years. Unitree Robotics raised $900 million in its Shanghai IPO this week. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and VC Vinod Khosla have also spoken on robotics' "ChatGPT moment." Even one of robotics' biggest names says that a major breakthrough for the industry may take up to a decade. During a keynote speech at the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing on Thursday, Unitree Robotics CEO Wang Xingxing said that the industry's breakthrough will come only when a robot can perform most tasks without being specifically trained for them.
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