From Beijing to Hangzhou, the sight of robotic dogs in a park is becoming more and more common.
Climbing stairs? No problem. And what about hills? They can do that too.
Josh Yuan showed us his robo-dog in one of Beijing’s fanciest shopping districts, guiding it through a crowd of curious onlookers with a handheld remote-controlled device.
He paid £1,300 for his new companion a few months ago.
“I think at the moment it’s for people like me, or tech geeks and programmers,” Mr Yuan said.
“But I think in the future, it will be quite common and humanoid robots will definitely enter people’s homes when they are more affordable.”
There are dozens of robot companies in China. A few of them, like the Hangzhou company Unitree, are focused on robotic dogs.
The Unitree team showed off their two latest models. One is a small dog, that can be used as a companion or dressed up in a dragon or panda costume for fun.
They also have a larger model, strong enough to lift me on its back.
It’s designed for industries to use and can carry supplies, be sent into a fire or emergency, or be used to check pipelines and infrastructure.
In May, however, robodogs received some extra – and unwanted – attention after China’s state media channel showed them being used in training exercises with weapons firing from their back.
The People’s Liberation Army was using these gun-toting robots as they trained with Cambodian forces. But Unitree says the video came as a surprise.
The company’s marketing manager, Duke Huang, explained: “We learnt about this from the internet, just like everyone else. We didn’t know anything about it before that.”
These robots aren’t designed for military use, but the video caused a storm.
“We can’t control how buyers use the dog after they buy it,” Mr Huang says. “But we are thinking about how to prohibit military use in the…
