From being trained for a Mount Everest expedition to performing at China’s Spring Festival Gala, and now “begging” for money, Unitree’s humanoid robots are leaving no stone unturned. A now-viral video circulating on social media put the spotlight on a panhandling robot asking for donations to help pay off its “electricity bill,” using a speaker and an LED sign. The machine was spotted kneeling down with folded hands on a Chinese street, while a donation tray and QR code for digital payment lay in front of it on the floor.

Viral robot video sparks AI layoff discussion

The unconventional sight instantly triggered a playful discussion among netizens on social media, though it was rooted in a heartbreaking reality for many.

Many couldn’t believe their eyes and left comments like, “A robot in China panhandling for its electricity bill with a QR code is either the funniest or most dystopian thing to happen this week, and honestly it might be both.”

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Another user wrote on X, “Even the robots are struggling with the cost of living crisis and rent inflation in this economy.”

On the one hand, some joked how the advancement of artificial intelligence had left even robots jobless, turning them into “beggar-bots.” On the other hand, some conflated humanoid machines with AI, saying things like, “AI took our jobs. Now it needs spare change”, and “They take your jobs, they take your donations.”

Someone else commented, “Tough times in China. Even their robots are begging for money.” Another user chimed in, “Lol even the robots can’t make it.”

Unitree robots take over China

Ironically, as the viral robot video inspired conversations about how the rise of AI had made the job market for the human workforce even more uncertain, Matt White, a distinguished generative AI expert, researcher and educator, took to his social media to heap praises on the company behind the machine.

“Unitree is well positioned to dominate in humanoid and quadruped robotics in the same way that BYD now owns the global EV market,” he wrote on X. “After having spent time with @UnitreeRobotics, and its deeply technical and driven CEO and Founder Wang Xingxing, I am confident that Unitree will become a robotics powerhouse.”

Earlier this month, Jensen Huang’s NVIDIA picked the humanoid robot maker for the first robotics system the US chipmaker is selling to researchers from Stanford to ETH Zurich. According to its announcement, the system puts together Unitree’s nearly 6-foot-tall H2 humanoid robots and Nvidia’s Jetson Thor hardware, while including the company’s advanced Blackwell GPU for on-device AI capabilities. This comes after CEO Jensen Huang predicted that “physical AI” could generate a market worth tens of trillions of dollars.

In the meantime, the high-performance quadrupedal robot industry pioneer is all set to hit the stock market, aiming for a valuation of $6.2 billion. The Hangzhou-based company became the world’s top humanoid robot seller last year, as it continues to go viral for eye-catching presentations put on its robots, which have sometimes been found dancing on national TV and watched by millions.

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After reaching the more than 6,000 metre-high summit of Ecuador’s Chimborazo volcano, Pemba, a 35kg humanoid robot manufactured by China’s Unitree Robotics, is now eyeing to climb Mount Everest. But that’s not to say these robots have not found themselves at the centre of controversy.

One of these humanoid robots was detained by the police for terrorising an elderly woman on a Chinese street in March. Another viral video showed a clown-wig-wearing Unitree robot accidentally roundhouse-kicking a child in the stomach during a public event.

In a similar unprecedented event, another Unitree G1 robot is said to have lost its balance during a public performance in China. As it fell to the ground, its violent limb movements ended up leaving a man with a nose injury.

Disclaimer: The content in this article is based on a viral social media discussion and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only.