Unitree Founder Says GPT-6 Could Accelerate Robotics Breakthrough

Unitree Robotics founder and CEO Wang Xingxing says advances from OpenAI could produce a robotics breakthrough within one or two years, according to the South China Morning Post. In August, before GPT-6 was released, Wang estimated that the industry could need two to three years at its fastest pace, or as long as a decade, to reach what he called a ChatGPT moment.

OpenAI unveiled its GPT-6 Astra model in September, and the South China Morning Post reports that it demonstrated strong capabilities in robotic manipulation. Unitree tested the model on its own robots and got good results, Wang said at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai.

Wang defined the milestone as robots completing about 80 percent of tasks in 80 percent of unfamiliar environments through voice or text commands. He said it is possible that a GPT-7 model released next year could directly solve the problems of embodied intelligence.

Unitree is increasing investment in robot software and has said it plans to allocate about half the proceeds from its recent initial public offering to research and development of robotic models. The company is also running trials in factories, though Wang said the efficiency and ability of its robots still need further improvement.