IFA26: Xiaomi's CyberOne 2nd generation is here: More skillful hands, can do more things

At IFA 2026, I saw an interesting highlight at Xiaomi: the second generation CyberOne humanoid robot. This is the first time Xiaomi has brought this robot model to demonstration outside of China. Instead of just standing and waving like the first version in 2022, this new robot has just undergone four months of practical testing in the company's electric vehicle factory before bringing it to Berlin.

Flexible interaction with AI and hands with sweat glands

In the exhibition area, the robot mainly plays the role of welcoming guests, knowing how to create heart shapes, shake hands and play rock, paper, scissors directly with visitors thanks to a large language model that processes in real time and does not follow a pre-made script. The machine's appearance has changed to a light gray tone that looks more industrial, is about 1.7 meters tall and weighs 66 kg. The point I appreciate the most is that Xiaomi focuses on upgrading the hands with 66 degrees of freedom for the whole body, of which the hands account for half.

The robot hand is scaled down to the size of a real human hand, covering an area of ​​about 8,200 mm² with tactile sensors to grasp objects by feeling force instead of just looking through the camera. The company even 3D printed metal liquid channels in the forearm to pump evaporative heat dissipation solution, simulating the sweating mechanism to help the motor maintain continuous operation without overheating.

From the car production line to the commercialization story

Different from the acrobatic displays of muscle, I personally like Xiaomi's practical approach of bringing robots straight into the electric car factory to install rear floor screws. In that closed environment, the robot can run automatically for 3 hours with a cycle of 76 seconds per vehicle, achieving a successful screw tightening rate of about 98%, approaching the 99% level of skilled workers. However, this ratio only applies to a few fixed operations and cannot replace an entire assembly team.

Currently, Xiaomi has no plans to launch commercial sales and the rumored prices online are not official information. The company's announced roadmap is still to serve the factory first and then consider bringing it into the family.

I see that mastering skillful hands and having a real car production line available to collect data is a very practical step for Xiaomi. How do you see CyberOne's practical working potential?