XPeng Iron: Humanoid from the Chinese Tesla-Killer Heads to the Czech Republic
Written by ROBOTio Team · · 9 min read
Article summary
Chinese XPeng unveiled the second generation of the Iron robot — 178 cm, 82 degrees of freedom, solid-state battery, and 3× AI chip. Its movement was so natural that the CEO had to cut open the robot's skin to convince the audience there wasn't a human inside.
# XPeng Iron: Humanoid from the Chinese Tesla-Killer Heads to the Czech Republic 5 November 2025, Guangzhou. XPeng AI Day with the subtitle **„Emergence"**. A humanoid robot walks onto the stage. It moves so naturally that part of the audience raises an eyebrow — *is there a person inside by any chance?* CEO **He Xiaopeng** approaches the robot and, before the cameras, **cuts open its silicone skin** to dispel any doubts. Under the skin are electronics, cables, and 82 joints. It was one of the most dramatic moments of the tech year 2025 — and the starting gun for **XPeng Iron**, a robot aiming to rewrite the rules of the humanoid machine segment in 2026. --- ## Five Minutes That Changed the Global View of Humanoids XPeng already had experience with robotics — in October 2023 it introduced the bipedal **PX5** (150 cm, 22 degrees of freedom, capable of walking over 2 hours on rough terrain). In November 2024 it unveiled the first generation of **Iron** (178 cm, 60+ joints). But only the **second generation of Iron**, presented on 5 November 2025, gained international attention. The key moment: a **„catwalk" presentation**, where the robot walked among the audience so smoothly and human-like that part of the audience began speculating about a person in a costume. He Xiaopeng solved it simply — he invited the robot onto the stage and **cut open the polyurethane skin** live. Beneath it were visible actuators, cables, and a structural spine. *„We want Iron to have its own thinking. It is not a robot to be controlled,"* He Xiaopeng stated in a later interview. The video of this scene went viral in China and the West. SCMP, CnEVPost, Electrek, Euronews — all picked up the story. **In Czech**, the event was covered by Svět Hardware, Insmart.cz, and Kurzy.cz. --- ## Who is XPeng and Why Are They Building a Robot **XPeng** (officially Guangzhou XPeng Motors Technology) is a **Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer** founded in August 2014. Headquarters in Guangzhou, R&D centres in Mountain View (California) and Munich. **Volkswagen Group** bought a **4.99% stake for USD 700 million** in 2023 and has been collaborating on joint models since 2026. In 2024, XPeng had revenues of **RMB 40.87 billion** (~CZK 125 billion) and produced **429,445 vehicles**. In the Czech Republic, it is represented by **Hedin Distribution CZ s.r.o.** (Brno-Židenice), which sells the G6, G9, and P7+ models — so the cars are officially available in the country. But XPeng is not just an automaker. The CEO officially positions the company as **„a global embodied intelligence company"**. The strategy is: - **Cars** — serial electromobility - **Robotaxi** — autonomous driverless vehicles - **Flying cars** (XPeng AeroHT) - **Humanoids** — Iron All connected through **one AI stack**: its own **Turing chip** (2,250 TOPS) + **VLA model** (Vision-Language-Action). The concept: once you teach the model to function in the real world through a car, you can transfer it to a robot — and vice versa. He Xiaopeng publicly speaks of **RMB 50 billion (~USD 7 billion)** as the basic investment for serious humanoid R&D. Target: **1 million units per year by 2030**. In Q1 2026, construction begins on a **specialised factory** in Tianhe District, Guangzhou — area **110,000 m²**. --- ## What Iron Can Do — Specifications in Human Numbers Let's move from marketing phrases to hard data. The second generation of XPeng Iron has the following parameters: **Physical Dimensions** - **Height:** 178 cm — roughly the height of an average Czech man - **Weight:** 70 kg — less than an average adult - **Construction:** humanoid spine, bionic muscles, fully covered with flexible polyurethane skin, 3D curved OLED display in the head **Joints (Degrees of Freedom)** - **82 DoF in the body** — the most in the segment (for comparison: Tesla Optimus Gen 2 has 28 DoF, Unitree H2 has 31 DoF, Unitree H1 only 20 DoF) - **22 DoF in each hand** — total 44 DoF just for the hands - **„Smallest harmonic joint in the industry"** in the fingers — the robot can grasp an egg, unscrew a PET bottle cap, or fold laundry **AI Brain** - **3× XPeng Turing AI chip** directly in the robot - **Over 2,250 TOPS** (official XPeng press release states up to 3,000 TOPS) - **Onboard processing** — no cloud latency, no internet outages - **VLA / VLT / VLM model** — Vision-Language-Action: the robot „sees, speaks, acts" in real time - Trained on **100 million clips of real-world data** (equivalent to 65,000 years of action), without manual annotation, on 30,000+ GPUs - **„Fourth Law"**: private data **never leaves the robot** (local inference) **Sensors** - **720° Eagle-Eye vision** — combination of cameras for full spatial awareness - **Tactile sensors** in the synthetic skin and fingertips - **No lidar** — XPeng deliberately follows a „pure vision" philosophy (same as Tesla) **Battery — World First** - **Solid-state battery** (solid electrolyte) — Iron is **the first humanoid with a fully solid-state battery** in the world - **Energy density over 500 Wh/kg** — roughly **2× more** than the lithium-ion battery in Tesla Optimus - **Safer** — ceramic/polymer instead of flammable liquid electrolyte (crucial for deployment in enclosed spaces) **Software** - **Tianji AIOS** — XPeng's operating system - **OTA cloud updates** - **SDK for global developers** — XPeng announced the opening of the developer platform in 11/2025 --- ## The First Humanoid with a Solid-State Battery — Why It's a Revolution Solid-state battery is not a marketing buzzword. It is truly a **technological leap** that sets Iron apart from all competition — Tesla Optimus, Unitree H1/H2, Boston Dynamics Atlas, Figure 02, none of these models have a solid-state battery. **What solid-state means in practice:** 1. **Higher energy density** — more capacity in the same volume, so Iron can work longer without a larger battery 2. **Safety** — no flammable liquid electrolyte → no thermal runaway possible → suitable for **enclosed spaces** (offices, showrooms, retail, hospitals, schools) 3. **Lifespan** — solid-state batteries typically last **2–3× more charging cycles** than lithium-ion 4. **Operation in extreme temperatures** — from -20 °C to +60 °C without degradation For deployment at events and in operations, this is a key argument: **you can safely deploy Iron in any environment**, from the Hilton Prague conference hall to an industrial hall at MSV Brno, without the increased fire risk that realistically exists with some humanoids using lithium-ion batteries. --- ## Iron vs. Tesla Optimus, Unitree, Figure — Comparison Table | Parameter | XPeng Iron | Tesla Optimus Gen 2 | Unitree H1 | Unitree H2 | Figure 02 | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | **Height** | 178 cm | 168–173 cm | 180 cm | 182 cm | 170 cm | | **Weight** | 70 kg | 57 kg | 47 kg | 70 kg | 70 kg | | **Body DoF** | **82** | 28 | 20 | 31 | 30+ | | **Hand DoF** | **22** (each) | 22 | low | bionic | 16 | | **AI Chip** | 3× Turing 2,250+ TOPS | Tesla DOJO/HW4 | proprietary | proprietary | OpenAI partnership | | **Battery** | **Solid-state** | Li-ion | Li-ion | Li-ion | Li-ion | | **Price** | ~USD 150,000 (est.) | ~USD 20–30,000 (planned) | USD 90,000 | USD 29,900 | undisclosed | | **Mass Production** | end of 2026 | unclear | available | available | pilot | | **Primary Deployment** | services, retail, manufacturing | general, B2C target | research, fitness | research, hobby | manufacturing | **Summary**: In 2026, Iron is **the most human-like humanoid** with the highest number of degrees of freedom in the segment, built on the industry's first solid-state battery and its own AI chip. **It is the most expensive** — that's the trade-off for technological sophistication. For mass B2C deployment (~1 million units/year), XPeng has a target of 2030, when prices are likely to drop. --- ## What This Means for the Czech Republic — and Where IRON Availability Stands **XPeng is officially present in the Czech Republic** — as an automaker. Hedin Distribution CZ sells the G6, G9 and P7+ models. The IRON robot, however, is not sold through Hedin in the Czech Republic; Hedin is purely an automotive importer. **Update, September 2026:** XPENG has commissioned the IRON production line in Guangzhou, plans mass production by the end of 2026 and an official market launch with deliveries in China and overseas in 2027. According to XPENG, the production version has 76 degrees of freedom in the body and 21 in each hand; the AI Day 2025 prototype this article describes listed 82 and 22. **ROBOTio does not offer the IRON robot yet** — neither for rental nor for sale. We are negotiating representation and demonstration units for Europe directly with XPENG and keep the current status on the [XPeng Iron product page](/xpeng-iron). **Where IRON would make sense in the Czech Republic once it is available in Europe:** - **Corporate events and conferences** — guest welcome, a stage moment, PR content - **Trade fairs** — MSV Brno, Amper, FOR ARCH, IT conferences - **Automotive showrooms** — a natural crossover with XPeng cars from Hedin - **Retail flagship stores and hotel lobbies** - **Universities and STEM education** - **Pilot deployment in automotive production** — IRON already assists in XPeng's own production - **Marketing activations** — airports, press conferences, store openings **What we can do today:** if you need a humanoid for an event now, we deploy the Unitree G1 (130 cm) or H2 (180 cm) from our own fleet — with operators, transport, a script and live AI conversation in 13 languages. We answer enquiries within 24 hours via the form on the [XPeng Iron page](/xpeng-iron). --- ## What's Next He Xiaopeng repeatedly mentions in interviews that **2026 is a turning point for XPeng**. In Q1, construction of the humanoid factory began, mass production is planned for the end of 2026, and a partnership with steel giant **Baoshan Iron & Steel** shows that Iron is no longer just a presentation robot — it works in real production. For the Czech market, this means one thing: **whoever is among the first** companies to showcase Iron at their event or showroom **will gain a massive PR advantage**. Iron is the most visible humanoid robot of 2026 — viral content, media coverage, and competitive advantage in the field. ROBOTio follows IRON's development and is negotiating its availability in Europe directly with XPENG. As soon as the robot is available in Europe, you will hear about it first on our [XPeng Iron page](/xpeng-iron). --- ## Related Content on ROBOTio - [XPeng Iron — Product Page](/xpeng-iron) — manufacturer specifications, availability status, FAQ - [Humanoid Robot Models](/models) — complete overview (Unitree, Tesla, Atlas, Iron, and others) - [Robot Rental for Events](/robot-rental) - [Robot for Corporate Events](/robot-for-event) — typical scenarios and calculations --- ## Sources - **XPeng official press release (5 November 2025):** [xpeng.com/news/019a56f54fe99a2a0a8d8a0282e402b7](https://www.xpeng.com/news/019a56f54fe99a2a0a8d8a0282e402b7) - **XPeng newsroom — Iron humanoid robot:** [xpeng.com/news/xpeng-iron-humanoid-robot](https://www.xpeng.com/news/xpeng-iron-humanoid-robot) - **XPeng AI Day 2025 official video:** [youtube.com/watch?v=gMHJdg8h2Co](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMHJdg8h2Co) - **CnEVPost (5 November 2025):** *XPeng unveils next-gen Iron humanoid robot* — [cnevpost.com](https://cnevpost.com/2025/11/05/xpeng-unveils-next-gen-iron-humanoid-robot/) - **CnEVPost (25 February 2026):** *XPeng to break ground on humanoid robot factory in Q1* — [cnevpost.com](https://cnevpost.com/2026/02/25/xpeng-to-break-ground-on-humanoid-robot-factory-q1/) - **Humanoids Daily:** *XPeng sets 2026 target for mass-produced Iron robot* — [humanoidsdaily.com](https://www.humanoidsdaily.com/feed/xpeng-sets-2026-target-for-mass-produced-iron-robot-eyes-1-million-units-by-2030) - **SCMP (5 November 2025):** *XPeng founder unzips humanoid robot to prove it's not human* — [scmp.com](https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3331958/big-reveal-xpeng-founder-unzips-humanoid-robot-prove-its-not-human) - **Czech context — Svět Hardware:** [svethardware.cz](https://svethardware.cz/article/humanoidni-robot-xpeng-iron-udivuje-nejen-prirozenym-pohybem) - **XPeng cars in the Czech Republic (Hedin Distribution):** [xpeng-auto.cz](https://xpeng-auto.cz/) --- 📧 **[email protected]** · 📞 **+420 608 486 486** · 🌐 **[robotio.cz](/)**Category
robotika
Tags
- xpeng
- xpeng iron
- humanoid robots
- china
- ai day 2025
- solid-state battery
- vla model
- robot rental
- tesla optimus competition
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