Galgotias controversy shouldn’t overshadow efforts at India AI summit: Meity secy on Chinese robot row

A day after Noida’s Galgotias University landed in trouble over an exhibit at the India AI Impact Summit, the Centre ordered the institute’s stalls to be removed from the expo show floor. Addressing the concern at a press briefing on Wednesday, S Krishnan, secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity), said that the decision was taken “to ensure that controversies should not overshadow our efforts”.

“What happened should not affect the way people present or exhibit their work at such events. The idea is not to use an opportunity like this to become something else or create unnecessary noise. It is essential that a proper code of conduct is followed, as there are other countries and other participants involved as well. Controversies around one issue should not overshadow the tremendous effort put in by others,” the top bureaucrat said.

On Tuesday, a robot dog exhibit from Galgotias University was found to be wrongfully claimed as their own development by students. Neha Singh, a professor associated with the institution, had claimed in an interview prior to the controversy that the robot, named ‘Orion’, was built by its students. “We are the first private university investing more than ₹350 crore in AI, and we have a dedicated data science and artificial intelligence block on the campus,” she had claimed.

That claim later turned out to be untrue, after a closer look revealed it to be a Go2—a robot sold commercially by China’s Unitree.

“My expression came from a place of enthusiasm, but may not have come out the most eloquently. It is important to understand our intent here,” Singh later claimed.

“We didn't develop it. We worked on its development... We want to bring them, just like that robot was brought, and an effort was made to get 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... If China is making the claim, then maybe it (robodog) could be bought from China... I haven't received any such official communication yet (on vacating the expo),” he told the news agency.

Krishnan clarified the decision, adding, “Many institutions and startups have created excellent exhibits. Their hard work and innovation should remain the focus, rather than any single incident dominating the conversation.”

The institute has also said that it will address the issue at a press conference later in the day, insisting that its claim was taken out of context.

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