(Yicai) Feb. 25 -- Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics, said the US robot maker's Artificial Intelligence Institute has bought humanoid robots and many smaller bots from Chinese startup Unitree Robotics for testing and research purposes.

Even as competitors, Boston Dynamics wants to understand the real-world capabilities of Unitree's products, Raibert told Yicai at Dassault Systèmes' 3DEXPERIENCE World 2025 in Houston.

Raibert noted that he attended the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai during his first visit to China last year, where he was impressed by Unitree's demonstration and simultaneous release of 27 androids.

Regarding the wave of innovation led by Chinese AI firms such as DeepSeek, the owner of DeepSeek-R1, which was described by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen as an "AI Sputnik moment," Raibert believes that this is just the beginning and more groundbreaking ideas will emerge to reshape the technological trajectory.

Commercializing humanoid robots faces three major challenges: adapting to complex and variable application scenarios, ensuring safety, and reducing high costs, according to Raibert. While androids can replicate many human functions, significant gaps remain in mimicking microscopic structures, including muscle fibers, nerves, and skin, he pointed out.

Raibert, a robotics pioneer with over five decades of expertise, founded Boston Dynamics' AI Institute in 2022 to focus on fundamental research for next-generation intelligent robots.

Achieving artificial general intelligence remains unpredictable, requiring not only technological breakthroughs but also ethical and regulatory considerations, Raibert said.

Established in 1992, Boston Dynamics was acquired by South Korean chaebol Hyundai Motor Group in December 2020.

Editor: Martin Kadiev