China’s Unitree unveils ‘Superman’ robot as fervour builds ahead of Shanghai debut

Unitree, a leading Chinese humanoid-robot company, introduced a new high-speed robot dubbed "Superman" on Monday, just days before its much-anticipated debut on the Shanghai stock market. The company, headquartered in Hangzhou, has seen its IPO more than 8,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors, setting a record for Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market. Unitree's CEO, Wang Xingxing, gained national recognition after being seated in the front row at a summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year.

The new robot is capable of a standing jump of 2 meters and can reach a top speed of 12.66 meters per second. It was developed in just over three months and is part of a series of bipedal humanoid robots that Unitree has produced and delivered, totaling about 18,000 units as of July. While the robot is still a work in progress, Unitree has expressed a commitment to further improvements in the coming months.

Derivatives market data suggests a strong debut for Unitree on the Shanghai stock market, with its shares benefitting from a broader recovery in Chinese technology stocks following a recent selloff. The STAR50 Index, a major tech stock index, has rebounded about 15% from its three-month low in early August.