Robbyant R1 is a new Chinese humanoid robot

Chinese tech giant Ant Group, owner of the Alipay payment platform, unveiled its first humanoid robot at this year's tech conferences. It's called Robbyant R1, and it joins a growing wave of companies exploring a new field of automation by combining artificial intelligence and physical robotics.

Videos and reports show the R1 robot cooking for an audience at the IFA 2025 trade show in Berlin. The menu reportedly included shrimp. The company, which is part of the Jack Ma-backed Ant Group, also showcased the humanoid robot at the Inclusion Conference in Shanghai.

According to Robbyant, helping in the kitchen is just one of many possible uses for the R1 robot. They claim it could also be used as a companion or care robot in healthcare, or as a robotic tour guide.

The company hasn't announced a launch date or price for the robot, but it's currently being tested in community centers and restaurants. Any claims about the robot's capabilities should be treated with a certain amount of skepticism until we see it operating autonomously in the real world. The video from IFA doesn't exactly inspire high expectations, as the R1 places a box on a counter at a pace so slow that even a sloth would be faster.

Ant Group joins companies like Tesla that are increasingly betting on artificial intelligence-powered robotics. While the field has been marked by decades of great promise and slow progress, many believe that software improvements will finally help bridge the gap.