• One humanoid robot danced its way through an industrial demo, ran at nearly 9 mph, and lifted 20 kg like a champ.
• Another humanoid robot stood motionless behind a keytar, wearing a hoodie, and still became the highlight of a global music festival.

Welcome to the slightly absurd and wildly fascinating reality of humanoid robotics in 2025. Whether you’re tracking brand automation trends or simply wondering when robots started moonlighting as synth musicians, the answer is: now.

July 2025 gave us two oddly captivating case studies in the form of L7 from RobotEra and Adam from PNDbotics. One is a performance-capable logistics machine. The other is a stage-bound sculpture with serious meme potential. Together, they hint at how humanoid robotics applications are growing far beyond traditional factory automation tools and into public-facing domains across industries worldwide.

Let’s start with L7, developed by Beijing-based RobotEra. This humanoid robot isn’t your typical rigid lab prototype. It’s tall (171 cm), agile (65 kg), and fast (14.4 km/h), reportedly making it the fastest full-size humanoid robot in operation as of mid-2025. That’s not just fast for a robot—it’s nearly Usain Bolt pace, minus the sweat and celebratory pose.

More than just speed, L7 is a master of movement. It offers 55 degrees of freedom, enabling impressively fluid motion. With ten-axis wrists, five-fingered dexterity, and high-torque motors capable of 400 Nm, this machine can scan barcodes, fasten screws, draw curtains, and even do the robot dance better than most humans. In fact, at its Beijing launch, L7 performed spins, breakdancing, and a backwards roll from a squat position—without tearing a servo.

L7 is made from aerospace-grade aluminium and carbon fibre, which sounds like overkill until you consider the balance between strength and flexibility needed for a humanoid to sprint and lift like a warehouse linebacker. It’s no surprise then that RobotEra has sold over 200 units globally, including to research centres and industrial labs in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Their clientele spans sectors from logistics and electronics to education and event services.

The L7 also comes in a modular form called M7, which skips the legs and focuses on upper-body functions for tight workspaces. This version is already being trialled in packaging centres and exhibition booths.

Now, let’s look at the stranger side of humanoid robotics: Adam by PNDbotics.

Debuted on 12 July 2025 at VOYAGEX, a major music and tech festival in Changchun, China, Adam appeared onstage with a hoodie, a long mask, and a keytar. Unlike L7, Adam didn’t move much. It didn’t play the instrument. It barely twitched. But that eerie stillness captured massive online attention.

Reddit threads exploded. Was it a stunt? A joke? A human in disguise? Nope—Adam is real. It’s a humanoid robot with 25 patented actuators controlled by reinforcement learning algorithms trained to mimic human motion patterns. Built by PNDbotics, a Beijing-based startup focused on expressivity in robotics, Adam’s job wasn’t to “do” anything. Its job was to be seen.

The goal of Adam, according to its creators, was to explore emotional response to humanoid presence in non-traditional environments. Music festivals, art installations, and brand events—these are the new labs. And Adam passed the vibe check by standing still.

This new generation of humanoid robotics isn’t about replacing human jobs outright. It’s about supplementing environments—operationally and socially—with robotic presence.

Let’s be clear: these robots aren’t trying to out-human us. They’re weird and mechanical, sometimes a little awkward. But they’re also increasingly useful. And in the case of Adam, weirdly photogenic.

We now have:

• A humanoid robot supporting fast-paced warehouse logistics and live event installations around the world.
• A humanoid stage robot designed to trigger confusion and curiosity at music festivals.
• Production robots with modular capabilities scaling into logistics, education, performance, and showroom spaces.

Even five years ago, this setup would’ve sounded like a late-night pitch for a sci-fi pilot. Yet today, humanoid robotics on the global stage is more visible, functional, and—let’s be honest—entertaining than ever.

Here’s what’s clear in 2025:

Humanoid robot applications are no longer limited to factory automation tools hidden in the back rooms of industrial parks. These machines are now part of consumer-facing environments. They’re greeting guests. They’re appearing on camera. They’re demoing products. They’re photobombing live events.

L7’s ability to combine high-load performance with agile movement has made it especially popular in demo-driven sectors like retail technology and education. Meanwhile, Adam has sparked conversations about design, identity, and what it means to stand silently in a crowd of flashing lights and still become the main character.

Whether it’s walking through a major airport terminal with customer info screens on its chest or rolling out at a product launch while holding a coffee tray, humanoid robots are here—and weirdly, they kind of belong.

Cost is also a factor that’s starting to normalise. While early prototypes ran into six-figure price tags, models like L7 and Adam are becoming more modular and less cost prohibitive. Companies can license individual robot functions, test short-term use cases, and integrate sensors and control algorithms via standard robotics platforms.

More importantly, these machines are becoming less intrusive and more expressive. That’s a strange but true direction: in 2025, a robot’s ability to stand still and wear a hoodie can be just as valuable as its ability to lift 20 kilograms. Expressive presence matters.

So yes, the humanoid robot boom is real. Robots are no longer background extras. They’re participants. And depending on how things unfold next year, they might even headline your next event.