How U.S. military funding propelled China’s robot dogs

China’s Unitree built a wildly popular $1,600 robot dog (Go2) using designs that trace back to U.S. military‑funded research — surprising given the price and scale.
Unitree robots have even appeared with PLA troops on state TV, raising worries about weaponization; the U.S. has flagged the firm and moved to limit imports.
The episode highlights a bigger story: the U.S. still leads in innovation, but China’s ability to mass‑produce cheap hardware is reshaping the tech competition.