- The man behind Unitree’s rise is more complex than his public image
- A humble tech geek, fierce competitor and relentless workaholic
Unlike many people who only came to know Wang Xingxing after 2025, when his company Unitree became one of the most talked-about members of Hangzhou’s so-called tech cohort “Six Little Dragons,” I first came to know him in 2023.
At the time, I was running a robotics blog, which led me to follow what Wang was doing at Unitree: developing quadruped robots, with universities, research institutions and technology companies among the main buyers.
Back then, when people thought about robotic dogs for research, the reference point was probably Boston Dynamics’ Spot. Like the company’s iconic Atlas, Spot relied on a hydraulically powered system.
Unitree took a different path. Its robots were electrically powered, with Wang and his team determined to challenge Atlas and other high-end robots.
Untested route
It was an untested route at the time. Electric motors were cheaper, but they could not match hydraulic systems in instantaneous power and torque.
Whether an electric robot could achieve the same agility and dynamic movement as Spot was still an open question.
With that in mind, I tried contacting Unitree’s PR team through the email address listed on its website. The result was much like what you get from many Chinese companies: the email address was essentially decorative. My message disappeared into the void.
Then, by chance, I came across a discussion on Zhihu, China’s answer to Quora, where a group of robotics enthusiasts were debating the technical merits of quadruped robots.
One of the replies came from an account whose profile identified the user as Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree. It even included his mobile phone number.
I tried it. Surprisingly, I actually managed to add him on WeChat.
The unexpected connection
That was unusual. Few Chinese company founders are willing to make their real identities and contact details so readily accessible on social media. We exchanged a few messages, and I told him I would like to interview him if there was an opportunity.
Wang did not turn me down. He simply said he was busy with R&D and factory production schedules and suggested we talk sometime later.
Then “later” never came.
The reason is obvious in hindsight. After Unitree survived its most difficult period, when funding was tight and the company was still fighting for a place in the market, Wang’s schedule became increasingly packed. Eventually, he had little time left for interviews with relatively niche media outlets.
But we have remained on friendly terms. From time to time, I would post something congratulating him on a new milestone, and he would respond politely every time.
My overall impression has been that Wang is a relatively mild-mannered and humble CEO.
But people in the industry, including employees of some of Unitree’s competitors, have given me a different picture.
For example, whenever one of Unitree’s rivals released what it claimed was a breakthrough and received a wave of praise on platforms such as bilibili, some of those companies’ employees told me they had seen comments from an account bearing Wang’s own name saying things along the lines of, “It’s fake,” or “They’re just paid shills.”
At the time, I thought he really needed a corporate spokesperson to manage his social media presence.
Geek meets rivals
I have had similar experiences myself.
Wang has been particularly skeptical of AgiBot, which eventually became Unitree’s biggest rival. He has also argued that some of Agibot’s early demonstrations were largely PowerPoint slides rather than functions that could genuinely be deployed at the time of their release.
And he once refused to be featured alongside any AgiBot executive in a media profile, requesting exclusivity.
Put these pieces together, and a more complicated picture of Wang emerges.
On one hand, he is indeed a generally polite, mild-mannered tech geek. On the other, he also displays the stubbornness and intensity that often come with that personality type.
Toward competitors — especially those capable of challenging his company’s position — his attitude can become highly defensive and combative.
Behind the manicured public image
The real Wang Xingxing, therefore, is not simply the single-minded geek CEO portrayed on screen, the man supposedly living in a world where nothing exists beyond his passion for robots.
He is a flesh-and-blood person. Like many of us, he has good qualities, but he also has his private imperfections — including, at times, a tendency to be jealous of or dismissive toward those who might outshine him.
Perhaps that makes him more authentic than the executives who spend their entire careers under the spotlight, basking in endless applause.
There is something else I have learned from watching Wang: many highly successful people are extraordinarily high-energy individuals.
Wang is certainly one of them.
The ’48-hour’ marathon
His schedule can be so punishing that you cannot help but admire his stamina. Much of the “996” culture and relentless work ethic that employees complain about may actually pale in comparison with the hustle culture practiced by the bosses themselves.
One example is what I would call Wang’s “48-hour extreme” on November 30, 2024.
He went to bed at around 3 a.m. in Beijing on Thursday and got up shortly after 7. He had a meeting at 9, a conference call after 11, and a flight back to Hangzhou at 2 p.m. After arriving, he dealt with a backlog of company matters, conducted four interviews, met friends, and joined another conference call to discuss documents. He finished work around 2 a.m., took a taxi to Pudong Airport at 3:30 a.m., and flew to Japan after 8 the next morning.
On Friday afternoon and evening, he continued with meetings. At around 2 a.m., he took a flight back to Shanghai, arriving after 4 a.m., before taking a taxi back to Hangzhou.
In other words, he slept for roughly nine hours in total across those 48 hours.
That kind of stamina is not something everyone possesses.
I suspect many Chinese entrepreneurs are like Wang: workaholics who burn themselves out for something they genuinely care about, remaining on standby 24 hours a day because they are driven by a goal that matters deeply to them.
Built for the grind
Success, of course, favors those who are prepared.
But perhaps success also belongs disproportionately to those who are physically and mentally tough enough to keep going until the day their efforts finally bear fruit.
And that, perhaps more than anything else, is the Wang Xingxing I know.
