First Steps? Honor's Humanoid Robot Makes It Debut With a Moonwalk and a Backflip - CNET
Just before the show, Honor said that not only would it be bringing the Robot Phone to Barcelona, but an actual humanoid robot. It's a bold move for a company that so far has only been known for making phones, tablets and laptops.
Key takeaways
The most recent coverage shows a surge of activity across both industrial and consumer sectors. Apptronik, the Austin‑based startup behind the Apollo prototype, announced a $520 million funding round that lifted its valuation above $5 billion and brought Google DeepMind on board, underscoring investor confidence that humanoid robots could reshape labor costs in manufacturing and other repetitive‑task environments. In Japan, telecom operator KDDI expanded its alliance with digital‑avatar maker Avita, committing its cloud and communications infrastructure to support remote‑controlled humanoids and targeting commercial trials by autumn, with the aim of deploying the robots in its retail outlets. Meanwhile, researchers at Georgia Tech unveiled a new “thinking” system that improves balance and agility for two‑legged robots, a step that could make walking stability a reliable foundation for future humanoid deployments. At Mobile World Congress, Chinese smartphone maker Honor debuted a consumer‑focused humanoid that performed a choreographed dance, including a moonwalk and a back‑flip, and highlighted plans to use the robot for shopping assistance, workplace inspections and companionship. Industry analysts continue to point to rapid growth, with market forecasts projecting the global humanoid robot market to approach $30 billion by 2036 as automotive, logistics and manufacturing adopters scale up trials. Together, these developments illustrate a broad push to move humanoid robots from laboratory demos into commercial use cases within the next year.
Just before the show, Honor said that not only would it be bringing the Robot Phone to Barcelona, but an actual humanoid robot. It's a bold move for a company that so far has only been known for making phones, tablets and laptops. But it also sees the company joining a broader trend we witnessed at CES in January – namely, launching a humanoid robot designed to live and work alongside us in the very near, if not immediate, future.
Unlike many robotics companies that build industrial robots first, with plans to expand into consumer robots at a much later date, Honor is designing its humanoid for consumers from the start. The company says its robots will be designed for three core scenarios: shopping assistance, workplace inspections and supportive companionship. > @cnetdotcom That landing!!! 🤖 #honor #honorrobot #humanoid #robotics #mwc2026 ♬ original sound - CNET
Honor first announced its move into robotics in October last year when it said it was making a Robot Phone. At CES in January, we got our first glimpse of a non-working version of the phone. This week at MWC in Barcelona, Honor is showing a working demo of the Robot Phone, with a self-aware, responsive camera arm. See full bio
Katie Collins
2 min read
In what was definitely the most showstopping moment of Mobile World Congress so far, Honor's brand-new humanoid robot hit the stage on Sunday with a dance number choreographed to Believer by Imagine Dragons").
This is the first time a phone-maker has unveiled a humanoid robot, setting Honor apart from its Android rivals in a big way.
Alongside four backing dancers, the robot showed off its dance moves, which included an impressive moonwalk, before being joined on stage by Honor CEO James Li, who shook its hand and then encouraged it to do a backflip. It didn't quite stick the landing, but saved itself from falling at the last moment with an outstretched hand.
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