Security researchers have found flaws in Chinese robot dogs on sale in Canada that could allow someone else to take control of them, despite their affordability with prices starting at around $6,000. At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, robots showcased impressive capabilities in tasks such as running and table tennis, but are limited to a single task due to narrow software training. Experts like Michiel van de Panne and Jason Peng highlight that the software is still the main issue with these machines, not the hardware, which has become much cheaper over the past decade. The flaws in security pose a risk, similar to those found in other countries, but Canada lacks regulations equivalent to the US Federal Communications Commission's recent ban on new foreign-made robots from the American market.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-26,
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which → buy → work
Chinese robot dogs on sale in Canada still cannot do much without a person driving them.
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person → do → them
Security researchers have found flaws that could let someone else take control.
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someone → find → control
In Beijing this week, organizers say more than 2,000 humanoid robots are competing in running, table tennis and soccer at the second World Humanoid Robot Games, inside the oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
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robots → say → Olympics
The displays show real capability, said Jason Peng, an assistant professor of computing science at Simon Fraser University.
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Peng → show → University
But the software running each robot is trained for one narrow task, he told National Post in an email.
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he → run → email
A machine built to dance or play table tennis can do little else.
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machine → build → little
The machine on sale here is the Unitree Go2, built by a Chinese company that makes both four-legged robots, which the field calls quadrupeds, and two-legged humanoids.
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field → build → which
An Alberta dealer markets them for fire and rescue crews.
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dealer → market → crews
In Canada, they start at around $6,000.
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they → start → 6,000
Michiel van de Panne has worked with four-legged and humanoid robots for years at the University of British Columbia, where he is a professor emeritus of computer science.
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he → work → science
Humanoid robots once ran anywhere from $200,000 to a million dollars, he said, and the price of the hardware has plummeted over the past three to 10 years.
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price → run → years
The hardware is no longer the hard part, van de Panne said.
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“If someone gives you 100,000 quadrupeds or 100,000 humanoids, okay, now what are they actually good for so far,” van de Panne said.
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The short-term uses tend to be entertainment, he told National Post in an interview, and the machines are a novelty.
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machines → tend → interview
A robot can do a backflip because the move is the same every time, Peng wrote, and software trained to do it can do almost nothing else.
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software → do → nothing
Folding a shirt is harder, because the robot has to adjust to how the shirt sits each time.
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shirt → fold → shirt
The one real job emerging for these machines is search and rescue.
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job → emerge → machines
A robot steered by joystick can be sent into a burning building a firefighter cannot access, feeding back live video, van de Panne said.
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Panne → steer → video
He co-supervises a PhD student at ETH Zurich working on exactly that.
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co → co → that
A person driving the robot can finish tasks no robot can do alone.
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robot → drive → tasks
Drone Dynamics, an Alberta company that sells Unitree robots in Canada, lists 14 products and runs a page marketing them to fire and rescue services.
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that → sell → services
Most listings read sold out or special order.
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Peng said he believes research labs at SFU, UBC, the University of Toronto and Université de Montréal run Unitree machines.
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labs → say → machines
On July 28, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned new foreign-made robots from the American market unless the Department of War clears them one by one, after security agencies found the machines posed risks to supply chains and critical infrastructure.
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machines → ban → chains
Models already approved can still be sold.
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Canada has no equivalent measure.
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A report published in March by Andreas Makris and a group of security researchers found an earlier Unitree robot dog shipped with a hidden connection to an outside network that owners were never told about.
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owners → publish → that
The University of Waterloo was among the institutions whose connections appeared in the data, alongside MIT, Princeton and Carnegie Mellon.
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connections → appear → MIT
The education version of that robot, sold at about $8,500, was marketed to universities.
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version → sell → universities
Olivier Laflamme, a Quebec security researcher, bought a Go2 and spent months taking it apart.
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Laflamme → buy → it
He and a collaborator published two flaws this year that could give an attacker full control of the robot, one through the network it sits on and one through the phone app that controls it.
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Makris and his colleagues found another way in.
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Setting these robots up on Wi-Fi is done over Bluetooth, and that step accepts whatever text it is given without checking, so commands can be smuggled in through the password field.
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commands → set → field
The encryption protecting the exchange uses a single key, hardcoded and identical on every machine Unitree ships.
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Unitree → protect → machine
Anyone who knows it and stands within Bluetooth range gets full control.
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who → know → control
The flaw covers the company’s humanoids and its robot dogs, including the model sold in Canada.
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flaw → cover → Canada
The known flaws are patched in current firmware, Makris said in an email.
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But a buyer cannot tell which version ships in the box, he wrote, and updating is left to the owner.
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updating → tell → owner
…and 12 more, not listed.
