Dubai robotics firm Lootah Robotics opened a humanoid robot showroom on Sheikh Zayed Road on Friday, 6 November. It has 28 robots priced from AED 50,000 to AED 3 million (about $13,600 to $817,000). The National calls it the UAE’s first dedicated humanoid robotics showroom, near the Dubai International Financial Centre.
The robots on the floor are designed for real work. According to the company, they’re built to clean homes, work on skyscraper facades, and operate in streets and warehouses. The showroom also has reception, hospitality, and customer service robots, some multilingual and able to greet visitors and serve coffee.
Some people are afraid that they’re going to take the jobs of the people. But I say no, it’s going to enhance the work of the people.
Yousif Al Lootah, founder, Lootah Robotics
Founder Yousif Al Lootah said the range goes further than humanoids. It includes inspection robots, oil dump robots, and a robot for fire and safety systems aimed at construction and oil and gas companies. He compared the spread of prices to cars: “Some robots are the cost of a sports car, others a luxury car, and some an economical car.”
Because prices vary so widely, Lootah Robotics plans to sell to select customers and rent to others. I Like Dubai says rentals will run hourly, daily, monthly, or annually, with operation, maintenance, programming, and training on offer. Lootah hasn’t confirmed rental prices. Al Lootah’s view is that the robot alone isn’t the product: “We need the programming, we need the operation, the maintenance for it.”
The company had already sold humanoid robots to private customers before the showroom opened. On opening day, five humanoids presented, danced, and played football with children from the company’s robotics academy, while more than 4,000 people watched a livestream. Offices and a warehouse with more units sit above the showroom floor.
The showroom joins other showrooms on the same road, such as the NIO Hub Dubai. The wider context is the Dubai Robotics and Automation Programme, launched in 2022 by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai. It aims to put 200,000 robots across the emirate by 2032 and raise robotics’ share of Dubai’s GDP to 9%. Al Lootah thinks the city will beat that: “Dubai is going to have more than that many robots by then.”
Lootah is working towards local manufacturing in the UAE, but that’s a future aim. The floor won’t stay at 28 for long. Al Lootah said: “Three more are due to arrive on Saturday, with a further 16 the week after.”
