XPENG, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, recently showcased its Iron humanoid robot walking autonomously off its newly operational production line after assembly was complete. The company claims that more than 80% of the production line's core processes are automated. Quality control systems adapted from XPENG’s automotive manufacturing are used to maintain consistency as production scales up. Iron features 76 degrees of freedom across its body and 21 in each hand, allowing it to walk and manipulate objects in human-designed environments. The robot is powered by three Turing AI chips, which can perform up to 2,250 trillion operations per second. This enables Iron to run AI models independently and perform complex tasks without remote control. XPENG’s CEO, He Xiaopeng, officially welcomed Iron into the company by giving it a staff badge, indicating that its onboarding process is complete. XPENG plans to introduce Iron in its own stores and corporate campuses first, with wider availability in China and overseas markets expected by 2027. However, the company has not specified whether the robot will be sold in the United States or provided its price. Details about the current production output or the amount of testing Iron underwent before its autonomous walk were not disclosed. The company has set mass production as a goal for the end of the year. Initially, Iron will assist with tasks such as reception, guided tours, and sales support in XPENG locations. The robot’s design emphasizes flexibility and safety, though no independent safety evaluation has been released. XPENG’s announcement marks a significant step toward mass-producing a new category of products—humanoid robots. However, it remains unclear whether Iron is capable of operating continuously throughout a full workday. Meanwhile, Tesla is also working on its own humanoid robot, called Optimus, and has plans to repurpose its Model S and X production lines for robot manufacturing. Tesla’s recent financial filings indicate it is preparing for large-scale robot production. Another company, Figure, has already built over 350 of its Figure 03 robots and demonstrated a production rate of one robot per hour. However, these robots are currently used for internal development and data collection, not for customer delivery. In a related development, BMW has reported that an earlier version of Figure’s robot, the Figure 02, was used to insert sheet-metal parts for welding at its Spartanburg plant. This contributed to the production of over 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles over a ten-month period. These examples highlight the growing interest in using humanoid robots in both manufacturing and service environments, as companies continue to explore the potential of advanced robotics.