- The Xiaomi founder kicked a humanoid robot during a visit to Unitree’s Hangzhou headquarters
- The surprise visit comes as Unitree pushes deeper into embodied AI and industrial applications
Xiaomi founder Lei Jun visited Unitree in Hangzhou on September 14, where he watched humanoid robot demonstrations and even kicked one of the machines in a playful test of its stability.
Accompanied by Unitree founder and CEO Wang Xingxing (王兴兴), Lei watched demonstrations including martial arts and Chinese calligraphy.
In one exchange, he delivered a hard kick with his right foot, sending the Unitree’s full-size H2 robot several steps backward before it regained its balance.
In video footage captured by attending media outlets, a Unitree G1 robot is seen approaching a Xiaomi Skynomad N90 electric vehicle. Then it appeared to inspect it and waved to visitors.
Before visiting Unitree, Lei had stopped at video-sharing platform bilibili’s Shanghai headquarters earlier that day, where he met Chen Rui (陈睿), chairman and CEO of the video-sharing platform.
The two have a long shared history: Chen joined Kingsoft Software early in his career as Lei’s technical assistant and has publicly described Lei as his “teacher.”
Lei’s back-to-back visits, from Shanghai’s leading content platform to Hangzhou’s prominent humanoid-robot maker, underscore his growing engagement with different parts of China’s technology industry.
From demos to factories
Lei’s visit to Unitree followed an event earlier that afternoon, where he handed over the keys to more than 30 buyers of Xiaomi’s Skynomad extended-range electric vehicles.
The visit has fueled speculation about whether Unitree robots could eventually enter Xiaomi’s car factories for training and real-world testing, particularly as Unitree steps up its push into embodied-AI applications.
The company open-sourced its UnifoLM-WLA-1.0 humanoid foundation model last week and on September 14 launched what it called the “Yuchuang Plan” (宇创计划).
This is a long-term initiative offering global embodied-AI entrepreneurs ecosystem support, including industrial investment.
Lei’s visit also comes after a series of increasingly visible interactions between the two companies. In March, Wang appeared alongside Lei Jun at Xiaomi’s spring launch event, where they helped promote the SU7 sedan.
Lei said at the time that Wang had given Xiaomi an opportunity to invest in Unitree five years earlier.
Xiaomi has already been experimenting with humanoids in manufacturing. In March, Lei said Xiaomi’s own CyberOne (铁大) humanoid robot had begun “interning” at a Xiaomi car factory and predicted that large numbers of humanoid robots would eventually work in its factories.
A long-standing connection
Lei’s visit was not the first link between the two sides. Shunwei Capital, the investment firm founded by Lei, was an early Unitree investor, participating in the company’s Series A financing in 2021 and leading its Series B+ round in 2022. Xiaomi itself made a strategic investment in Unitree in 2025.
Unitree subsequently listed on Shanghai’s STAR Market on August 19.
Whether Lei’s latest visit was simply a high-profile show of support — especially at a time when Unitree’s market value has more than halved since its listing — or a sign of deeper industrial cooperation remains unclear.
But with both companies pushing humanoid robots toward real-world manufacturing, the possibility of Unitree machines eventually entering Xiaomi’s factories is likely to draw close attention.
Header image credit: tidenews
