AS the founder and CEO of Unitree Robotics, 35-year-old Wang Xingxing has become a benchmark for youthful talent in hardcore technology, thanks to his groundbreaking innovations in humanoid and quadruped robots.

Wang’s journey is also a tale of transformation, evolving from an introverted student with limited English skills to a prominent figure in robotics. In his younger days, he was known for being so introverted that he often went unnoticed.

Born in 1990 to an ordinary family in Yuyao, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Wang faced significant challenges in learning English, according to Thepaper.cn. Despite his diligent efforts, he struggled to grasp the language.

His schoolteacher once confided to his mother, expressing concern that Wang seemed sluggish and was at risk of not graduating from high school due to his poor grades.

Out of countless English tests, both big and small, Wang managed to pass only three times.

There’s a humorous online anecdote suggesting that Wang named his company Unitree Robotics — a name that sounds like “yushu” in Chinese, which means “Chinese” and “math” but notably excludes “English,” one of the three main subjects.

Despite this challenge, Wang consistently ranked among the top students overall, excelling in math, physics and chemistry.

From a young age, he demonstrated exceptional hands-on skills, inventing impressive wind-powered cars, power banks and small jet engines.

Wang showcased his unusual talent during the critical national matriculation examination in 2009 when, despite scoring only 28 out of a possible 150 in English, he was still accepted into the mechanical and electrical engineering program at the School of Mechanical and Automation Control, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, in Hangzhou, Thepaper.cn story said.

His teachers described him as highly goal-oriented with exceptional hands-on skills. He viewed the school library as his “fountain” for recharging and the laboratory as his “jungle,” a place where he could apply his abilities.

During his freshman year, in his initial exploration of microcontroller units, he spent his pocket money on an Arduino board. During winter break, Wang purchased over a dozen 9g servomotors and used them to build a biped humanoid robot, boasting 14 degrees of freedom (DOF).

He proudly remarked: “It cost even less than an electric fan.”

From that point on, he continued to excel. In the summer of 2010, using hand-drawn blueprints along with cutting and polishing techniques, he developed a multi-DOF force feedback glove and 3D virtual reality force interaction software. In 2011, he filed his first patent for a device designed to achieve multi-DOF force feedback in fingers. That summer, he also enhanced his “dexterous hand prototype” to provide each finger with four active DOF.

In 2013, while taking the postgraduate entrance exam, his lack of proficiency in English disqualified him from Zhejiang University, to which he had applied. Consequently, he was admitted to Shanghai University through an adjustment process.

However, this setback did not diminish his talent. During his first year of postgraduate study, he developed a highly dynamic mechanical leg, garnering research support from his supervisor, Jia Wenchuan. Later, under Jia’s guidance, he designed the XDog quadruped robot, which offered a low-cost, high-performance solution in the field of quadruped robotics. This achievement propelled him to global recognition within the industry.

In 2015, Wang published his electric drive design for the XDog, approximately a year ahead of Boston Dynamics, a prominent robotics company in the United States. He subsequently entered XDog in a robotics design competition in Shanghai, where he secured second place and received an award of 80,000 yuan (US$11,100).

This financial boost, in a way, helped solidify the future financial foundation of Unitree Robotics.

In early 2016, before completing his master’s degree, Wang was recruited by DJI in Shenzhen. However, he chose to leave the position just two months later to pursue his own venture, Unitree Robotics.

Wang took on dual roles as both CEO and CTO at Unitree, which focused on creating affordable quadruped robots.

The years that followed were far from glitch-free. In the early days, robotics was not as popular as it is today. While Unitree’s products were top-notch, sales were insufficient to turn a profit. Wang quickly exhausted the first round of financing, which compelled him to personally pay his employees. The company nearly came to a standstill for almost a year, leaving Wang feeling distraught.

The saving grace was the explosive AI boom, which allowed the once-struggling small company to secure a billion yuan investment, pushing its valuation to 10 billion yuan. Since then, Unitree has experienced a roller-coaster ride.

In 2017, Unitree launched its first product, Laikago (named after the dog that famously lost its life in early space exploration), which showcased Chinese robotics on the world stage. In 2019, the debut of Laikago Pro provided a Chinese solution for quadruped robots. In 2021, a robotic ox at China Central Television’s Spring Festival Gala gave 1.4 billion people a glimpse of state-of-the-art smart Chinese manufacturing.

This was followed by Unitree’s robotic dogs at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 and Chinese robotic dogs sharing the spotlight with their US counterparts at the Super Bowl pre-show in 2023.

Significantly, Wang and his team are redefining the application scenarios for robots. At the Hangzhou Asian Games, robotic dogs acted as all-around assistants, picking up discuses and serving as guide dogs. Unitree’s palm-sized gyms bring a cutting-edge tech dimension to wellness in the fitness sector.

There is an insatiable desire to push the boundaries of the industry. In 2023, they released the H1, a general humanoid robot that combined a steel torso with an AI brain. In 2024, they introduced the G1 humanoid robot, priced at a minimum of 99,000 yuan, bringing science fiction to life.

While some dispute what robots can do, Wang and his team have already responded elegantly with results. In recent years, their robots have been everywhere, performing Yangge dances at the Spring Festival Gala and carrying 45-kilogram loads up Mount Taishan in place of laborers. Even pig farms are buying Unitree robots for feeding, cleaning and disinfection.

In response to netizens wondering if they could expect robots to care for them in their old age, Wang said that demand is being addressed.