Facepalm: Russia has unveiled its first autonomous humanoid robot as it looks to rival US giants such as Tesla. But based on the machine's initial public appearance, in which it faceplanted after taking a few steps on stage, Russia still has a lot of work to do to catch up.
According to its website, AIdol – an acronym of maker Artificial Intelligence Dynamic Organism Lab – can work autonomously for six hours using its 48-volt battery, walk at speeds of up to 6 km/h (3.7 mph), work both online and offline, and carry 22 pounds. It's AI-powered too, apparently.
AIdol was given its public debut on November 10 in Moscow, where it was introduced as an example of a humanoid robot built from mostly domestic components.
As the Rocky theme blared, AIdol came waddling onto stage like an elderly man trying to find a public restroom. After giving a little wave, the bot drunkenly staggered forward and collapsed onto its face. At this point, two humans dragged him away as another frantically yanked back the curtain as if Putin himself was in the audience.
Russia unveiled its new humanoid robot, AIdol, in Moscow and it immediately collapsed pic.twitter.com/4ymFUaiYEg
– Saint Javelin (@saintjavelin) November 12, 2025
Most would consider the demo to be an embarrassment for a semi-autonomous robot that can supposedly move in space, transport objects, and communicate, especially when Boston Dynamics' Atlas was doing backflips almost eight years ago.
However, Dubai-based AIdol CEO Vladimir Vitukhin had a more positive view of proceedings. He framed the incident as a "real-time training" session, noting that "successful mistakes convert into knowledge, and failed mistakes convert into experience." He added that the next version of the anthropomorphic robot will be better.
The company also claimed the fall was due to calibration issues, adding that the robot is still in its testing phase.
Moscow won't be pleased to see so much global coverage of the incident, especially as 77% of the robot's components come from Russia – a figure that its maker aims to increase to 93%. With all the sanctions against the country, Russia is focusing on home-grown technology, but with little success.
AIdol is equipped with 19 servomotors that allow it to display more than a dozen basic emotions and hundreds of micro-expressions. It also has silicon skin to replicate human facial expressions, though the website only shows the robot in the form of a Hellraiser Cenobite.
For something even creepier, there's a head-and-torso-only desktop version of AIdol available that (probably) won't fall over.
