Xpeng’s Iron robot stuns the world
A fresh reveal of one of the world’s most advanced robots descended into dramatic scenes when onlookers struggled to believe the subject wasn’t human.
It’s a scene that could have come straight out of a sci-fi film.
We’ve officially reached the point where humanoid robots are so lifelike that people are second-guessing their true nature.
Human or replicant?
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Chinese car manufacturer Xpeng has just unveiled its Next-Gen Iron robot, which is quickly becoming a trending topic on social media.
Footage from the company’s 2025 Xpeng AI Day in Guangzhou, China, showed Xpeng’s robot strutting on stage with a shockingly realistic “catwalk” gait and human-like movements.
It looked so convincing that people on social media speculated it might be the most advanced humanoid yet, even beating the highly anticipated Tesla Optimus.
“If this is a robot, they have the most advanced walk so far …” one user on X wrote.
“If it’s a real humanoid - it’s IMPRRRRRRESSIVE!” another added.
“Walking better than Tesla’s million dollar robot,” another commenter said.
Xpeng has been accused of faking its robot’s capabilities, with many claiming the company uses real humans beneath the robot’s suit.
And after facing a flood of accusations that Iron was fake, Xpeng decided to put the rumours to bed.
During the live presentation, Xpeng staff began cutting its left leg open while on stage to prove that inside there were indeed wires and circuits, and not flesh and bone.
But apparently that still wasn’t enough.
“I’m gonna say human in a suit, never seen other humanoids achieve such a realistic hip sway and catwalk,” one user on X said.
“I would say definitely a human in a suit! If it’s not, well, that would be amazing!” another user said.
“It’s just a human with augmented leg,” one commenter wrote.
“Plot twist - it’s an amputee,” another wrote.
After the event, Xpeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng shared an unedited video on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to X, proving the new Iron robot was indeed robotic.
Iron’s genuine uncanny nature comes from an endoskeleton which features a ‘humanoid spine, bionic muscles and fully covered flexible skin’ which can also be customised into different body types.
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According to the company, the robot has 82 degrees of freedom, which enable smooth, flexible movements, and is powered by three custom AI chips that offer up to 3000 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of computing power, making it one of the world’s most advanced humanoid robots.
Xpeng aims to achieve mass production of advanced robots by the end of 2026.
“By the end of 2026, Xpeng aims to achieve large-scale mass production of high-level humanoid robots,” said CEO He Xiaopeng.
Xpeng also plans to open the robot’s software development kit to global developers to help expand its “humanoid ecosystem”.
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But for now, here in Australia, Xpeng is focusing on its electric vehicle fleet.
Currently, the brand offers only one model, the G6 electric SUV, which competes directly with the Tesla Model Y and the Zeekr 7X. However, the company has confirmed plans to bring its larger G9 SUV and X9 people mover to Australian showrooms in the near future.
Originally published as Xpeng’s Iron robot stuns the world
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