The controversy over the order to vacate the stall of Galgotias University at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 has intensified. Registrar of the University, Nitin Kumar Gaur has said that he has not received any official communication yet, but he clarified on the Robodog controversy that this robot was not developed by the University itself, but was purchased for the research of the students.
Misunderstanding between the words develop and development
Nitin Kumar Gaur told ANI that in the robot ‘Orion’ which was presented by Professor Neha Singh in the viral video, there was confusion due to the wrong use of the words ‘develop’ and ‘development’. He told, ‘It is a combination of two words. Develop and development. We did not develop it. We worked on its development. We wanted to bring them, just as that robot was brought and an attempt was made to get the students to do research on it. I can say that perhaps she (Professor Neha) might have been confused by the words ‘develop’ and ‘development’ in the flow. But the truth is that we bought this robot for children’s research.
He further said that if China is making the claim, then perhaps it can be purchased from China only. Regarding vacating the stall, Gaur insisted, ‘I have not received any such official communication yet.’ The university says that the robot was not introduced as an in-house innovation, but as a demonstration and research tool for students.
After all, how did this controversy start?
The quadruped robot (Robodog) kept at the stall of Galgotias University in the expo area of the summit became the center of attraction. In a video, Professor Neha Singh introduced it by the name ‘Orion’ and said that it is the product of the University’s Center of Excellence. But social media users said it is similar to the Go2 model of Chinese company Unitree, which is commercially available and is priced around Rs 2.5 lakh. It was accused of claiming foreign products as its own in the ‘Make in India’ themed summit.
The controversy grew so much that Rahul Gandhi also targeted the government by posting on X and called it ‘propaganda’. Government sources said the university has been instructed to vacate the stalls, but the university termed it a ‘propaganda campaign’ and said no official notice was received.
AI Impact Program going on in India Pavilion
India AI Impact Summit 2026 is going on at Bharat Mandapam under the IndiaAI Mission of the Government of India. It is from 16 to 20 February, where leaders and tech CEOs from more than 20 countries are participating. The focus of the summit is on human-centric AI, innovation and global cooperation. In such a situation, the controversy over Galgotias stall is raising questions on the image of the summit.
Gaur’s statement is the first official clarification from the university. Now it remains to be seen whether the government issues an official notice or the matter gets calmed down. Thousands of students and researchers are involved in the summit, and this incident is proving disappointing for them too.