Khaberni - The first appearance of a long-awaited humanoid robot quickly turned into a failure when the robot stumbled immediately upon entering the stage at a technology expo in Moscow on Tuesday.
To the soundtrack of the movie "Rocky," the robot entered the stage accompanied by two people, in front of a room filled with journalists who were eagerly waiting to get a look at what the developers described as "Russia's first human-like AI-powered robot."
However, as the robot attempted to raise its right hand to greet, it stumbled and swayed before falling to the ground face down, according to a report by the Washington Post.
The two men accompanying the robot quickly pulled it off the stage, while other team members tried to draw a black curtain over the stage to cover up the mistake.
The robot, known as "AIDOL," was developed by a Russian company that registered in August last year.
Vladimir Vitokin, CEO of AIDOL, said the autonomous robot is capable of performing three basic tasks: movement, handling objects, and communication.
According to the company's website, the mobile robot weighs 95 kilograms and is 186 centimeters tall, capable of displaying more than 12 basic emotions, carrying up to 22 pounds of load, and moving at speeds of up to 3.7 miles per hour.
The developers claim that the robot is domestically produced at 73%, meaning it is made mostly from Russian components.
Vitokhin pointed out that the robot had been tested under various conditions before its launch, "on gravel, carpet, laminate, expanded clay, and slippery floors," according to the Moscow Times.
He believed that the robot's fall on Tuesday might have been due to fluctuations in electrical voltage and other environmental factors, including lighting, but added: "Certainly everyone felt sorry for that, and this is one of its functions - to evoke sympathy," as mentioned in the newspaper.
AIDOL robot is the flagship project of "the New Technological Alliance" in Russia, which is a coalition of robotics companies and technical universities working on developing humanoid robots.
Alexei Yuzakov, the head of the alliance and founder of the robotics company "Promobot," told Russian business newspaper "Vedomosti," that he hopes to attract investments up to 50 million dollars, from Russian and foreign private investors and investment funds, for future developments.
Human-like robots were previously considered a part of science fiction, like flying cars, but are now a tangible reality, with major technology companies investing heavily in them.
Tesla, led by Elon Musk, is working on building its own humanoid robot named "Optimus," and Musk has said this type of robots will be "the biggest product in history ever."
Meanwhile, companies "Meta" and "Google" are working on integrating their technologies and artificial intelligence research into humanoid robots.
According to Morgan Stanley analysts, it is expected that there will be about 78 million humanoid robots operating in the United States by 2050.
