Where can you see a humanoid robot in Dubai?

Where can you meet a humanoid robot in Dubai today?

Museum of the Future. Dubai Future Labs unveiled a Unitree G1 in August 2025, first at a leadership event at Union House where it greeted the Ruler of Dubai, then as an interactive presence at the museum. The stated purpose, in the words of the lab's senior robotics engineer to Khaleej Times, is to build familiarity and reduce fear before humanoids reach malls, airports and homes. Check the museum's current programme before visiting; robot appearances are scheduled, not permanent.

E-CITY stores. The retailer holds the Unitree R1 and G1 in UAE stock and displays them in its stores in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. This is the only place in the Emirates where the humanoid you are looking at is the humanoid you can take home, at AED 34,999 and AED 89,999, with a warranty. A shop floor is also the most honest viewing: no stage lighting, no rehearsed routine.

Dubai Future Labs and public demonstrations. The lab runs demonstrations at government and public events through the year; these are announced rather than scheduled. The Gulf List carries them when they are public.

What will GITEX 2026 show, and when?

GITEX Global moves to the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City for 7 to 11 December 2026, with a footprint nearly double the old World Trade Centre home, more than 6,800 exhibitors and over 400 government entities. New for 2026 is a Physical AI Robotics Park, a dedicated arena for humanoids, autonomous industrial systems and edge computing. Humanoids have drawn crowds at GITEX for years, from Maha, the Emirati humanoid teacher at the du stand in 2024, to the robots at the Government of Dubai stand; 2026 is the first year they get their own hall.

For a buyer, GITEX is the one week when the Chinese makers who sell by quote, AgiBot, UBTech, EngineAI, Fourier, are physically present with their machines and their regional partners. That is how a second brand reaches a UAE shelf. Our preview and, after the show, our report are in Which humanoid robots will be at GITEX 2026?.

Where has Dubai put robots in front of the public before?

Dubai Police introduced its first robot officer in 2017, a 1.65 m REEM humanoid from PAL Robotics unveiled at GITEX the year before, with a stated goal of robots making up a quarter of the force by 2030. Service robots have greeted passengers at Dubai International Airport and staffed government service centres. None of these is a walking humanoid of the G1 kind, but they explain why Dubai's public is unusually comfortable with a robot in an official role and why the government's programme, covered in What is Dubai's robotics and automation programme, in plain words?, treats humanoids as a public-facing project rather than a factory one.

What does seeing one in person tell you that video does not?

Three things, and they are the reason this page exists. Scale: a G1 at 1.32 m is smaller than most people expect, a full-size H2 at 1.82 m is larger. Sound and pace: a walking humanoid is audible and, at 4.5 km/h top speed, slower than the edited clips suggest. Supervision: in every public setting a person stands within reach with a controller, which is the honest picture of 2026. We compared the public settings listed on this page on that last point: all of them, including the museum, keep a handler beside the robot. The specs behind those impressions are in Unitree G1 vs R1: which one for the UAE?.

Venues and dates checked 6 September 2026; this page is updated when a new public appearance is confirmed.