In 2013, a master's student at Shanghai University named Wang Xingxing built a quadruped robot called XDog as his thesis project.

He uploaded video of XDog walking to Chinese social media. Investors found him. Within three years, Wang had left his short job at DJI, rented a 50-square-meter office in Hangzhou, and founded Unitree Robotics.

In 2025, twelve years after the master's thesis, Unitree shipped 5,500 humanoid robots, claimed 32 percent of the global humanoid market by its prospectus, and filed for an IPO at a reportedly 40-billion-yuan-plus valuation.

The most consequential industrial transitions begin with a single graduate-student decision to build the thing rather than describe it. Unitree's twelve-year journey from XDog to 32 percent is what an entire industry transformation compressed into one career looks like.