A private university in India was directed to remove its stall from an Artificial Intelligence (AI) summit in New Delhi after a robotic dog it showcased was identified online as a commercially available product manufactured in China.

According to two government officials, y was asked to take down its stand a day after Prof Neha Singh told state-run broadcaster DD News that the robotic dog, Orion, had been developed by the university’s Centre of Excellence.

Internet users later identified the machine as the Unitree Go2, produced by Unitree Robotics in China and available for sale with a starting price of $1,600.

On Wednesday, Prof Singh denied claiming the robot was developed by the university. In a statement, she said:

"By one misinterpretation, the internet has gone by storm. It might be that I could not convey well what I had wanted to say, or you could not understand well what I wanted to say. I am a faculty member in communications at the School of Management, not in AI. Only you (the media) have heard what the government has said, as far as I know we are here at the expo. As a university, we are standing tall. The robot was brought here only for projection...."

 

The two officials described the development as an embarrassment for the host country. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media.

In a statement, Galgotias University said it was “deeply pained” and termed the episode a “propaganda campaign” that could create negativity and affect students working on innovation and research using global technologies.

The incident triggered strong reactions online, with several users questioning the university’s claim. Some described the episode as a “Heavy embarrassment,” while others wrote “Professional scammers” and “Scamming is in their DNA.”

 

One user commented, “If scamming were an Olympic event… India would say they won gold every time,” while another wrote, “Private universities are in this race of securing patents, models and copyrights adopting all kinds of means to project their academic and research capabilities.”

A separate post read, “Shame on you @GalgotiasGU You had embarrassed the Nation at International Level. It's against the Research Integrity to say we developed in our campus, when you bought from China Have Shame😔”

Some reactions also criticised the broader political climate, with one user stating, “This is what you get when an 4th fail egomaniac becomes PM and everyone is more interested in pleasing the stupid master. You end up getting an army of monkeys.”