Xpeng Unveils Cutting-edge Robotics at AI Day 2025
In a striking demonstration of technological advancement, Xpeng’s CEO He Xiaopeng showcased a next-generation humanoid robot, named Iron, during the highly anticipated AI Day 2025. The event featured a captivating video clip of the robot dancing fluidly in a lab setting, illustrating its human-like gait and stirring lively discussions across the internet last week.
Behind-the-Scenes Innovation
The showcased robot is a simplified research and development model designed to highlight ‘advanced technologies’ that underpin its human-like movements. As part of the reveal, He Xiaopeng emphasized the robot’s flexibility, boasting 82 degrees of freedom. This impressive movement capability is bolstered by an innovative artificial intelligence training method that dramatically accelerates learning processes.
Xpeng’s CEO shared insights into a new training methodology, which allows the robot to learn dance movements in just ‘two hours,’ a significant leap from previous reinforcement learning methods that spanned weeks without generalization. “With the new large model, Iron can certainly perform more generalized, human-like actions,” He explained.
The Skeptics and the Proof
During the presentation, the robot’s leg was cut open as evidence that the demo was not an act of a human in disguise. This was a response to some observers who speculated the smooth ‘model-like’ gait seen on AI Day could have been a costumed person. New footage further clarified the robot’s realistic hip sway, a result of enhanced hardware.
According to He, the ‘human-like spine’ added to the robot increases the degrees of freedom in its waist, enhancing its hip joint movement to mimic human anatomy. This innovative spinal structure, alongside features like ‘dexterous hands’ and a fully solid-state battery, was also highlighted during AI Day.
Frame from the video.