New Delhi: Controversy surrounds Galgotiyas University’s display at ongoing India show Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit 2026 An internal innovation, it has been further upgraded and the new review is now focused on another device demonstrated by the agency. Less than 24 hours after being asked to vacate a booth at the flagship AI summit in the nation’s capital, it is now facing questions about a “drone football pitch” that faculty members claim was developed entirely in-house.
In a video that went viral on social media, the university’s communication professor talked about the “Drone Football Stadium”, calling it another in-house innovation and claiming it was the “first” such system in India.“It’s a very interesting thing, from end-to-end engineering to application, everything is done at the university, it’s India’s first drone football stadium and you can see it on the campus in Galgotiyas, where kids are playing games, flying it, improving their flag-waving skills and developing it in a new way, with more power and enhanced features, which are what,” she said.However, some posts on social media have refuted this claim, claiming that the drone is very similar to a commercial product from South Korea. The user mentioned Helsel, which said it pioneered drone football in 2015 and launched the sport in South Korea in 2017. The sport is sanctioned by the World Air Sports Federation. Some users also claim that the device is similar to products like the Stryker V3 ARF on the market.The Youth Assembly also weighed in on X, claiming the drone was a Korean-made product and questioning the university’s claims.The article mocks PM Modi, “First China, now South Korea. Galgotias are on a world tour of ‘borrowing’ innovations. They claim to have built India’s first drone football from scratch on campus, but it is actually just a Striker V3 ARF from South Korea. Atmanirbhar” or is it just “Atmanir buying” Modi? “Earlier, the university displayed a robot dog called “Orion” that observers believed was the Unitree Go2 made by Chinese robotics company Unitree. The incident quickly escalated into a wider controversy at the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship event on artificial intelligence.The university has not issued new clarification on the drone allegations. Earlier, in a press release about the robot dog controversy, the institute called it “propaganda.”
What is this line about?
The robot dog displayed at the university’s stall was identified as Unitree Go2, a commercially available four-legged robot estimated to cost Rs 20,000-300,000 in India.Critics said the robot was seen at the summit as an internal innovation of the university, raising questions about the display of imported technology on a national artificial intelligence platform designed to highlight local development.As scrutiny intensifies, the power supply to the university’s pavilion at the Artificial Intelligence Summit was reportedly cut off after organizers asked the institution to vacate exhibition space. Government sources later confirmed that authorities had directed the university to evacuate the Expo site, and compliance and transparency standards were highlighted at the summit.
What started the fight?
During an earlier demonstration of the robot, Professor Neha Singh told DD News that the university has invested heavily in artificial intelligence.She said, “We are the first private university to invest over Rs 350 crore in artificial intelligence and we have dedicated data science and artificial intelligence blocks on campus. So Orion was developed by the Center of Excellence and as you can see it can come in all shapes and sizes. “Describing its capabilities, she added, “It’s also naughty. It’s also naughty, and it can do little tasks like surveillance, surveillance, etc.”In the wake of the robot dog controversy, the university said in a statement, “Let us be clear, Galgotias did not build this robot dog, nor do we claim to do so. What we are building are the minds that will soon be designing, engineering and manufacturing such technology in Bharat.”
