Moment when the robot is opened
The presentation of the humanoid Iron Next-Gen caused a lot of talk, but (perhaps) not for the reasons that its creators at Xpeng expected. The robot moved so much like a human that people were convinced there was someone inside controlling it.
24 hours after the company launched at its AI Day 2025 in Guangzhou at the beginning of the month, the Xpeng team returned to the stage to respond to skeptics – opening the famous Iron.
The CEO of the Chinese company speaks of a “somewhat forced and last resort solution”, but he really wanted to put an end to the discussion.
“Our robotics team felt very unfairthey didn’t sleep all night and they didn’t let me sleep either. We believe we do not need more proof,” said Xpeng CEO, He Xiaopengwhile Iron returned to the stage, half naked.
As described by , the Iron Next-Gen is an impressive improvement over the first model presented in 2024, which marked Xpeng’s expansion from electric vehicles to innovation in AI and robotics.
The new Iron has a humanoid spine, bionic muscles and flexible skin. Its flexibility comes from the construction, with 82 degrees of freedom (DoF) throughout the body and what the company calls the industry’s smallest “harmonic joint” in its human-sized and styled hands, which have 22 DoF.
Inside, it is also powered by all-solid-state batteries for high power and low weight, as well as Xpeng’s second-generation VLA (Vision-Language-Action) model, with three in-house developed AI Turing chips providing 2,250 TOPS of computing power.
This humanoid can perform tasks such as talking, walking and interacting with humans or robots – but in a way that feels more human than robotic.
The company claims they will be fully customizable for different body shapes when they eventually roll off the production line to the public.
He revealed that robots are expected to begin being implemented during 2026 for use in commercial and public service areas, in positions such as tour guides and sales assistants.
