Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng received an unexpected publicity boost for its second-generation humanoid robot, called Iron, after the company released a video demonstrating to disbelieving watchers that there was no human being inside the device.
Initially the Iron robot walked across the stage toward Xpeng founder He Xiaopeng at the firm’s AI Day event, demonstrating eerily human-like movements.
He said some people thought there must be a person inside Iron, so he had assistants cut open the fabric covering its calf, revealing the machinery beneath in a scene reminiscent of the 1984 science-fiction film The Terminator.
Human-like movements
The robot then continued to walk around the stage with the mechanics exposed, in a clip that was widely shared on Chinese social media on Thursday.
Xpeng’s shares, which had declined 2 percent on Wednesday after the robot was initially demonstrated, rose 1.4 percent the next day in Hong Kong trading amid the enthusiasm around Iron, an upgraded model of a robot announced last year.
At the AI Day event, Xpeng took aim at competitor Tesla with planned robotaxi vehicles and said it would begin mass-producing the second-generation Iron robot next year.
The robotaxi vehicles are planned to use four of Xpeng’s self-developed Turing AI chips that it claims have the industry’s highest in-car computing power at 3,000 TOPS.
Robotaxis
Xpeng said it would begin testing the robotaxis in Guangzhou, the city where it’s based, and other Chinese cities next year.
The company said it sees humanoid robots initially being used as tour guides, sales assistants and office building guides, and plans to use them in its own facilities.
