'We haven't received any directive yet': Galgotias University on reports of being asked to vacate AI Summit 

Galgotias University on Wednesday responded to reports that it had been asked to vacate its stall at the AI Summit Expo, saying it had received no such directive yet. "No, we have not received any directive yet to vacate the expo area. In fact, we are ready to answer for what happened yesterday," Professor Dr Aishwarya of Galgotias University said while speaking to news agency PTI. 

Earlier in the day, it was reported that Galgotias University had been asked to vacate the AI Summit Expo immediately after controversy intensified over a robotic dog showcased at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi.

Also Read: ‘Ontario has 1,600 AI firms that’s grasping for graduates’: Canadian minister Victor Anthony Fedeli

The Greater Noida-based university has been facing online backlash after a viral video alleged that it presented a Chinese-made robotic dog as an indigenous innovation. The uproar began after a clip surfaced in which a woman, during a media interaction at the summit, claimed that Galgotias's Centre of Excellence had developed a robotic dog named "Orion." 

Social media users later pointed out that the device resembled the Unitree Go2, an AI-powered robodog manufactured by Chinese robotics firm Unitree and sold online for around Rs 2–3 lakh. Several users accused the institution of passing off imported technology as a homegrown product.

Addressing the viral claims, the professor said that a viral tweet circulated went in a "completely wrong direction" and was "misinterpreted." "Everywhere, we have maintained the same claim—we never said that we manufacture or design these things. We have always said that our university is investing Rs 350 crore in AI. As part of that investment, we have brought different kinds of things into the university campus so that our students can explore, expand, and carry out research and development, and try to build an advanced prototype...actually it was misinterpreted."

"It is a very well-known fact, and we also know that this is something available everywhere on the internet. Why would we claim such a thing? It was misinterpreted, a viral tweet was posted and exaggerated—you know how such things happen. Therefore, we want to clarify that we are not a manufacturing unit. We are not people who make all these things. We are only here so that our university students can conduct research and development. As part of this investment, we are bringing these things in for that purpose," the professor said. 

In a separate statement posted on X, the university also clarified that it had not built the robotic dog in question. "The recently acquired robodog from Unitree is one such step in that journey. It is not merely a machine on display; it is a classroom in motion. Our students are experimenting with it, testing its limits and, in the process, expanding their own knowledge. Let us be clear: Galgotias has not built this robodog, nor have we ever claimed to," the university said.