In a scene that could have stepped out of a sci-fi film classic like Blade Runner or Ex Machina, Xpeng founder He Xiaopeng had the back of his company’s new humanoid robot unzipped to prove there was no person inside – after its lifelike movements sparked disbelief online.
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According to He’s post on Weibo on Thursday, Xpeng’s robotics team was “too excited to sleep” on Wednesday night after unveiling the new-generation robot that afternoon.
After months of preparation for the public debut, the team watched the robot’s performance go viral online – triggering disbelief that it was not human – and stayed up late following the reactions, replying to comments and basking in what had become an unexpected public relations storm.
In the clip, He had the robot, named Iron, walk a few steps before a colleague unzipped its artificial skin to reveal its internal components. Standing close by, He noted that he could hear the cooling system whirring and faint fan noise, clear evidence that it was a machine and not human.
The episode quickly went viral on Chinese social media.
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China’s Guangdong Xiaopeng tries to dispel rumours that its robot is human
China’s Guangdong Xiaopeng tries to dispel rumours that its robot is human
The hashtags #XpengRobotUndressedTestFootage and #WhatXpengRobotLooksLikeWithoutItsSkin became the top two trending topics on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, on Thursday, according to data site Entobit.