I must have woken up too early—robots now come in male and female variants.

At today's 2025 XPeng Technology Day, XPeng unveiled its next-generation IRON robot. The biggest highlight of this iteration is the introduction of male and female options, with a more human-like appearance and gait. Users can also choose the robot's body type according to their preferences.

During its stage debut, the female IRON robot strutted onto the runway like a model. Its walking style was notably light and agile, appearing even more human-like than previous versions.

He Xiaopeng stated on-site that making robots anthropomorphic is crucial; without it, there would be no way to collect valuable data from humans for training purposes.

Additionally, IRON features the industry-first integration of all-solid-state batteries. Regarding mass production, He Xiaopeng announced an ambitious timeline: high-end humanoid robots are slated for mass production by the end of 2026.

With gender differentiation and all-solid-state battery technology, IRON stands out as a groundbreaking entry in the robotics industry, signaling a fresh approach and new dynamics within the sector.

Robots must be human-like from the inside out

From the on-site appearance, IRON's overall shape appears relatively gentle and slender. Its pure white and soft exterior clothing design partially conceals the metallic mechanical feel. However, in line with its emphasis on anthropomorphic design, XPeng has not given IRON distinct facial features; instead, its head adopts a glowing bionic spherical design.

XPeng hopes its robot will have a human-like stature and appear human from the inside out, so it designed IRON with a bionic spine, muscles, skeleton, and skin.

At this point, does anyone remember the bionic robot Protoclone developed by a Polish robotics company? It looks like a guest from Westworld, with its muscles and bones being somewhat too realistic.

Moreover, when choosing a robot, users can DIY it themselves, selecting the body size according to their preferences and then wrapping it with flexible skin. This is considered an innovation in the robotics industry, but it is not new in the automotive industry, where choosing color schemes and interior designs is a traditional practice. However, if there are too many customizable options for robots, the corresponding permutations and combinations will also increase significantly because user needs vary. Therefore, potential issues that may arise during production need to be noted in advance.

When it comes to choosing their own body shape, I wonder if full customization is possible—for example, equipping a robot with eight-pack abs.

If robots were also equipped with trendy outfits, could we consider bringing our IRON bros or sisters along when shopping in the future? However, this scenario still requires IRON to possess sufficient intelligence.

When it comes to intelligence, IRON is equipped with 3 Turing AI chips, providing an effective computing power of 2,250 TOPS. It also debuts with XPeng's first-generation physical world large model, building a high-level "brain" capability combination through the synergy of "VLT + VLA + VLM," which enables advanced intelligence such as conversation, walking, and interaction.

It is worth mentioning that the VLT large model, which is also XPeng's first official public release, serves as the core engine for robot autonomous action. It functions like the robot's slow brain, enabling autonomous decision-making through thinking, decision-making, and task decomposition.

In terms of basic parameters, IRON has 82 degrees of freedom across its entire body, which serves as the foundation for completing anthropomorphic movements such as catwalks. Its dexterous hand also features 22 degrees of freedom; designed with harmonic joints to achieve a 1:1 scale relative to human hand dimensions, it can perform fine grasping actions.

Equipped with all-solid-state batteries, targeting mass production by the end of 2026

He Xiaopeng stated that all-solid-state batteries will be mass-produced for use on IRON. The all-solid-state battery technology first applied in IRON has increased its power capacity by 30% and reduced its weight by thirty percent.

He also believes: 'Humanoid robots are the products most likely to drive the mass production and implementation of all-solid-state batteries, because humanoid robots have higher safety requirements than cars. Cars are mainly used in open external environments, while humanoid robots are generally used in homes, factories, or offices, so more secure batteries must be considered.'

The application of all-solid-state batteries for products that have close contact with humans is also a major trend in the industry, playing a role in both battery life and safety. In this regard, we will see more humanoid robots equipped with all-solid-state batteries in the future, which may happen slightly earlier than the progress made in the automotive sector.

Regarding the mass production goals for robots, He Xiaopeng frankly stated that IRON is currently still in the research phase, but plans to enter the mass production preparation stage around April next year.

Furthermore, he expressed that XPeng aims to achieve large-scale mass production of advanced humanoid robots by the end of 2026, hoping that XPeng will be among the first, if not the very first, company in China to mass-produce advanced humanoid robots next year.

With the mass production plan already in place, the key question now arises: in which scenarios will IRON be deployed, and what exactly can it do?

IRON Prioritizes Commercial Scenarios Such as 'Three Guidance'

Many believe robots should first be deployed in factories for tasks like screwing bolts, but in reality, general-purpose humanoid robots often face durability issues when working in such environments. This is particularly true for dexterous hands, which tend to wear out after a period of use. As one of the most expensive components on a robot, the lack of a robust solution for dexterous hand longevity remains a significant industry bottleneck.

In home scenarios, which are widely anticipated, Xiaopeng stated that deploying robots for household chores currently faces substantial challenges, particularly regarding safety.

Therefore, Xiaopeng's strategy is to prioritize IRON's entry into commercial scenarios such as guiding, shopping assistance, and security patrols, which represent the primary application areas where most robots are currently being deployed.

However, to prepare for future practical applications, Xiaopeng has established an Embodied AI data factory in Guangzhou to address the shortage of training data for humanoid robots.

Xiaopeng also announced on site: "To accelerate the application and deployment of humanoid robots, Xiaopeng IRON will open its SDK to co-build a humanoid robot application ecosystem with global developers."

For robots to truly enter homes for chores, there is still a long way to go, with persistent challenges in robot models and data.

After launching the Figure 03, its founders have repeatedly emphasized the extreme difficulty of universal robot technology. To tackle issues related to data and models, 1X proposed a new idea: using the NEO robot to collect real-world data from users' homes. What new ideas will the future Xiaopeng IRON bring to the robotics industry?