Chinese automotive company XPeng made a big splash last year with its Terminator-like humanoid robot, dubbed Iron. The bipedal robot — which features certain eyebrow-raising design choices — was seen sauntering across the stage with an impressively lifelike “catwalk” gait.
But the company may have flown a little too close to the Sun. During a similar tech demo at a mall in Shenzhen, China, over the weekend, the robot once again ambled across a marbled floor in front of an eager crowd — only to suddenly start twisting its back in an unnatural way before falling over and faceplanting with an audible thud.
Footage circulating online shows someone break Iron’s fall. It eventually took three individuals to drag the 154-pound, five-foot-eight humanoid robot away from the prying eyes of the curious crowd. Some audience members can be heard chuckling to themselves as the robot is carried away.
Many netizens joked that it was the ultimate proof that Xpeng’s robot is not, in fact, a human in a costume, as some suspected when its human-like gait was first revealed.
Jan 31: 🇨🇳 XPeng’s humanoid robot IRON made its street debut at MixC Shenzhen Bay…
Oops… pic.twitter.com/0Uj1BaXznI — Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) January 31, 2026
The damage appears to have been done. As the South China Morning Post reports, footage of Xpeng’s fumble circulated widely on Chinese social media networks, eventually forcing cofounder and CEO He Xiaopeng to address the situation on Weibo.
“It reminds me of how all toddlers learn to walk,” he wrote in the post, as quoted by the SCMP. “After a fall, they will stand firm; the next step is to begin running, and to keep running.”
The company was clearly rattled by all of the negative press coverage. During the next day of Xpeng’s marketing campaign, the robot was strapped to a frame, per the newspaper.
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