China's Unitree Unveils 'Superman' Robot as Fervour Builds Ahead of Shanghai Debut

Shanghai: China's Unitree unveiled a new high-speed robot it dubbed "Superman" on Monday, days before becoming the first general-purpose robotics company to list on mainland China's stock market.

Unitree, the world's biggest humanoid-robot maker by sales, will start trading in Shanghai on Wednesday after raising 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million) in an initial public offering last week.

The company, based ⁠in the eastern Chinese tech hub of Hangzhou, said it developed the new robot in just over three months. It achieved a standing jump of 2 metres and reached a top speed of 12.66 metres per second.

The Shanghai debut coincides with the opening of the World Robot Conference in Beijing, adding to investor attention on a company whose humanoid robots have drawn global notice for running, dancing and performing martial arts.

The IPO was more than 8,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors, a record for Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market.

In a social-media ‌post last ⁠week, Unitree said it had cumulatively produced and delivered about 18,000 bipedal humanoid robots across multiple models as of July.

Unitree said the robot remained a work in progress and could be improved further in coming months.

Founder Wang Xingxing gained national prominence after securing ⁠a front-row seat at a summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping for leading technology entrepreneurs last year.

The startup is also backed by some of China's most influential technology companies including Tencent, Alibaba, ⁠and DeepSeek.

Ahead of Unitree's Shanghai listing, derivative trading in offshore markets has pointed to a strong debut.

Its shares may also benefit from a broader recovery in Chinese technology stocks following ⁠last month's selloff.

The STAR50 Index has rebounded about 15% from a three-month low hit in early August.