How the US helped fund research that created Chinese robot dogs sold around the world

A visually impaired person walks with a six-legged robotic guide dog during a field test demonstration by a team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in Shanghai, China. REUTERS/Nicoco Chan/File China's Unitree Robotics -- one of the world's largest makers of humanoid and quadrupedal robots -- based the designs of its most successful robot dogs on innovations funded by the U.S. military, according to a former U.S. defense technology official and three top researchers involved in the project. ? Launched in 2023, Unitree's US$1,600 Go2 model helped the company quickly dominate the global quadruped robot market. Its initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai generated frenzied demand. Another Unitree robot was shown on Chinese state television, armed and accompanying troops from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in an exercise. These robots build on advances in quadrupedal motion funded by US DEVCOM's Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and other military programs, the researchers and the former official told Reuters. The Army-funded project became “basically the first Unitree robot that had any scale,” said Gavin Kenneally, a former University of Pennsylvania researcher involved in the program. Ben Katz, who worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory as part of a consortium of universities funded by military programs, said the dimensions of Unitree's popular Go series were "to the millimeter" almost identical to those of an innovative robot he helped develop called Mini Cheetah. Reuters is the first media outlet to detail the connections between Unitree projects and the Army program. The episode sheds light on broader issues related to the United States' ability to compete with the state-driven Chinese manufacturing sector in strategic high-tech industries, including those essential to national security. Backed by subsidies, clusters of component factories and a tolerance for heavy losses, Chinese companies have captured market share in sectors such as solar panels, drones, electric vehicles and quantum communications, many of which were initially developed in the US with government or military support. A robot dog stands outside the headquarters of Ghost Robotics in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on July 8, 2026. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski Kenneally has commercialized the North American innovations through her company Ghost Robotics, which provides advanced, rugged robots to US special forces. But compared to Unitree, its production is small and costly. China wants to take robot dogs to the Moon to build a base with astronauts by 2035 In June, the Pentagon included Unitree on a list of Chinese military companies, classifying it as a “contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base”. This designation is not a sanction, but it limits the future use of Unitree technology by the US Military. Unitree said its robots are intended for civilian use. Unitree, China's State Council and China's Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Unitree did not act dishonestly in using U.S. Army research. The program's findings were published openly to encourage progress in the field, a common practice. ARL spokeswoman Amanda Ligon said the research “strengthened the broader U.S. robotics ecosystem” and served as the basis for subsequent work in both government and the private sector. ARL referred questions from Reuters about Unitree's commercialization of the technology to the Pentagon, which declined to comment. Companies vs. Industrial Policy Unitree sold more than 5,500 humanoids and 18,000 quadrupeds last year, according to company documents, and is now valued at about $9 billion ahead of its stock market debut on Wednesday. On the other hand, no North American company has produced such robots, not even Elon Musk's Tesla, which has been showing off prototypes of its humanoid Optimus for years. In a financial earnings call in January, Musk called China “incredibly good” at scaling up production. Boston Dynamics, the U.S. company whose 2019 canine robot Spot uses different technology, recently argued at a congressional hearing that China's low prices would drive U.S. companies out of the market. None of the US robotics researchers who spoke to Reuters advocated keeping this government-funded research secret. Instead, they said U.S. policymakers need to focus on allowing companies to quickly commercialize these advances to compete with China. Gavin Kenneally, CEO of Ghost Robotics, operates a robot dog at the company's headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on July 8, 2026. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski The ARL also stated that the publication is important for scientific and technological advancement. The U.S. excels in innovation and software development, but needs to secure capital, an industrial base, a highly skilled workforce and parts supply chains to scale innovations, said Vijay Kumar, dean of Penn Engineering. For now, U.S. authorities typically protect companies with trade restrictions on innovative Chinese products. In July, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned the import of future models of foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots, including those from Unitree. China threatened to retaliate against the FCC ban. China's embassy in Washington said in a statement that its companies are becoming