Humiliation for Putin as Russian robot version of him falls over as it is unveil

A humanoid robot “walking and looking like Vladimir Putin” took an embarrassing tumble on its debut outing. Russia’s first AI-powered anthropomorphic android waddled onto the stage while the soundtrack from the film Rocky played at its presentation in Moscow.

It managed a wave before crashing face down, scattering several pieces across the stage. Embarrassed minders rushed to rescue the robot, named AIdol, as two more assistants tried hide it from onlookers with a black sheet. Staff then rushed to drag AIdol off the flooor, as captured in footage shared by independent Russian outlets.

Vladimir Vitukhin, CEO of Russian robotics firm Idol, said the fall was caused by calibration issues while the robot is still in its testing phase.

He said: “This is real-time learning, when a good mistake turns into knowledge, and a bad mistake turns into experience … I hope that this mistake will turn into an experience.”

AIdol runs on a 48-volt battery that gives it up to six hours of continuous operation. It was also built using 77% Russian-made components, but Idol wants to increase this to 93%.

Vitukhin added: “The robot can smile, think, and be surprised – just like a person.”

AIdol has been temporarily remoced from public view while engineers test its balance systems and control software.