With IFA expanding its showcase of emerging technologies such as AI and robotics, Chinese-made robots fist-bumped guests, danced, boxed and performed household chores throughout the exhibition hall.
A humanoid robot CyberOne exchanges a fist bump with a visitor at the Xiaomi booth at IFA 2026 in Berlin on Sept. 4.
KIM IN-KYOUNG
BERLIN — When a visitor formed half of a heart with their hand, Xiaomi’s humanoid robot CyberOne reached out its arm and completed the other half. When another guest put out their fist for a first bump, the robot obliged.
Although CyberOne was present at Xiaomi’s booth at IFA 2026, which opened in Berlin on Friday, its usual workplace is at an EV factory. The robot’s success rate for fastening nuts is now 98 percent.
“We are testing its potential for use on manufacturing floors,” a Xiaomi spokesperson said, adding that the company is accelerating efforts to automate its factories.
With IFA expanding its showcase of emerging technologies such as AI and robotics, Chinese-made robots were displayed prominently throughout the exhibition hall. This year’s IFA Next, a dedicated innovation and startups ground, was the largest humanoid robot exhibition in the show’s history.
Unitree’s robots demonstrate a range of movements, including dancing and boxing.
KIM IN-KYOUNG
From the dance stage to factory floor
Several units of G1, Unitree’s humanoid model, danced in formation to music. Their movements were not always smooth, with some robots swaying unsteadily or struggling to keep pace with one another. Those that had earlier demonstrated their boxing capabilities sat off to the side, resting while the others danced.
Dobot’s booth featured another dancing robot — this one shaped like a panda. Elsewhere, TCL’s household robot, AiMe, tracked visitors’ hand gestures with its gaze; when they waved, it waved back. Hisense’s home robot roamed the floor, communicating with visitors through facial expressions on its screen.
Industrial robots also stood out. Pudu Robotics’ four-legged D5, familiar in Korea as a service robot, demonstrated its ability to inspect and patrol facilities by navigating stairs and slopes.
The company’s D7, designed for manufacturing and logistics work such as moving materials and retrieving and assembling items from high shelves, was also on display. A Pudu spokesperson said that this marked the robot’s European debut.
China’s humanoid robot production is predicted to grow 94 percent this year, with the market to reach 24 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) next year, according to research firm TrendForce.
Roborock displays the Saros Z70, a vacuum fitted with a robotic arm that can pick up socks or slippers left on the floor and move them aside.
KIM IN-KYOUNG
Children watch robots dancing at IFA 2026 in Berlin on Sept. 4.
KIM IN-KYOUNG
First robot to enter the home: The vacuum
IFA 2026 showed how the robot vacuum — already a fixture in many homes — has continued to evolve.
China’s Dreame unveiled a new model that switches to a mop mode — with its roller mop extending up to 8 centimeters (3.15 inches) — when its AI camera detects liquid spills and uses steam to loosen dried grime. It can also distinguish more than 320 types of objects.
Roborock, meanwhile, turned to the outdoors. Its Lawn Mower Z1 Lidar can map a garden’s shape, detect obstacles and plot its own path; climb platforms up to eight centimeters high; and move up slopes of roughly 39 degrees.
But visitors’ reactions were mixed: Some were enthusiastic, while others were wary. As houses vary widely in layout and use and the profitability of household robots remains elusive, those built for manufacturing, commercial use or specialized tasks are spreading faster than their household counterparts.
“[IFA 2026] features a lot more robots than last year, but it feels like we’re still far from one that can fully take over housework,” a visitor with her two children said. “They’re still too slow and too expensive.”
IFA is scheduled to host “Robots on the Runway” on Saturday, during which humanoid and quadruped robots from Unitree, AgiBot, Dobot and Deep Robotics will perform backflips, dances and poses on a single stage.
BY KIM IN-KYOUNG [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.