Robotics and AI events in the Gulf

Dubai AI Festival 2026

Two-day AI business festival run by Dubai AI Campus and DIFC; rescheduled from its spring slot to late October 2026.

Future Investment Initiative, 10th edition

Saudi Arabia's investment summit names AI and robotics as a core impact area; past editions unveiled humanoids and robot demos.

FII Institute lists AI and Robotics among its four focus areas

ROBOTECH 2026 Doha

First edition of a 15,000 sqm robotics and AI exhibition backed by Qatar Chamber, organised by Stallion; 200-plus companies expected.

Organisers promise robotics for healthcare, logistics, education and smart cities

BITEX 2026 (Bahrain International Technology Exhibition)

Bahrain's ICT exhibition alongside the MEET ICT conference; 2026 theme is AI driving the digital economy.

Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), next Yas Marina round

ATRC's driverless Super Formula racing series, the world's largest autonomous race; free-to-attend finals with a drone-racing sideshow.

Autonomous Dallara Super Formula cars run by university and industry teams; autonomous drone races

Emirates Robotics Competition, fourth edition finals

University teams build robots that return books to shelves in a real library; run by Dubai Future Labs with RIT Dubai, Khalifa University and AUS.

Physical robot platforms supplied by organisers; models not named

ADIPEC 2026

The world's biggest energy show now runs an AI Zone and Digitalisation Zone where inspection robots and drones for plants appear.

Energy inspection robots, quadrupeds and drones are typical exhibits

Gulfood Manufacturing 2026

Food-processing and packaging machinery show; the place to see industrial arms, palletisers and pick-and-place robots working on live lines.

Packaging and palletising robot arms are standard exhibits

Automechanika Dubai 2026

Automotive aftermarket show, first edition at Expo City; Innovation4Mobility and Fleet FWD tracks cover AI and automated workshop tooling.

Dubai Future Week 2026 (incl. Dubai Future Forum)

Dubai Future Foundation's futurist gathering, expanded to a four-day week; robotics is named among its core breakthrough fields.

Third-party listings place the Dubai Future Forum itself on 17-18 November inside the week

Global AI Show Abu Dhabi 2026

Commercial AI conference with a day-one robotics track on Physical AI and making industrial robots genuinely autonomous.

Sessions on autonomous industrial robots

Global Media Congress 2026

Media-industry congress and exhibition; past editions used AI presenters and robot hosts, useful for spotting media-facing robots.

BRIDGE Summit 2026

Media, creator-economy and tech summit, now five days on Yas Island; the 2025 debut showcased a full-size humanoid robot.

For 2026; a full-size humanoid shown at the 2025 edition was slated for Abu Dhabi mall pilots

Industrial Transformation Saudi Arabia 2026

Hannover Messe's Saudi spin-off for automation and Industry 4.0; industrial robots and cobots from global makers for Saudi factories.

Industrial automation and robotics is the core exhibitor category

GITEX Global 2026

The region's biggest tech show, first time at Expo City, with a Physical AI Robotics Park; summit 7 Dec, expo 8-11 Dec.

Physical AI Robotics Park announced; exhibitor list not yet published (Unitree, UBTech, Engineered Arts appeared in past editions)

Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2026

ADGM's finance week with AI among its headline themes; where robotics capital allocation in the Gulf gets discussed.

Expand North Star 2026

GITEX's startup showcase, moved from Dubai Harbour to Expo City; deep-tech and hardware startups, including robotics, pitch here.

2025 edition featured Dubai Police self-driving patrol robots

VertiExpo and DroneTech Dubai 2026

Vertical-flight and drone exhibition with a robotics and AI exhibitor category; drones and eVTOL makers on the floor.

UAV manufacturers and robotics/AI listed as exhibitor categories

World Summit AI Qatar 2026

Inspired Minds' AI conference in partnership with Qatar's Ministry of Communications and IT; governance and enterprise AI focus.

Museum of the Future reopening with new galleries

Dubai's most-visited robot venue, home of the Ameca humanoid, reopens in Q1 2027 with all-new galleries after a five-month closure.

Ameca (Engineered Arts) has been resident since 2022, upgraded April 2025; new gallery contents not yet disclosed

FIRST LEGO League UAE regional events 2027

School robotics league for ages 6-16; nine regional events across three emirates in January, national final February-March 2027 (TBC).

LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robots built by student teams

Intersec 2027

Security, safety and fire show where patrol robots, security drones and counter-drone systems are shown to Gulf police and facilities buyers.

Security patrol robots and drones typical

IDEX and NAVDEX 2027

Biennial defence and naval shows; the Gulf's biggest stage for military ground robots, unmanned vessels and drones from EDGE and others.

EDGE Group unmanned systems and international UGV/USV makers exhibited in 2025

WHX Dubai 2027 (formerly Arab Health)

The Gulf's largest healthcare exhibition; surgical, rehabilitation and hospital-logistics robots are regular exhibits, WHX Tech covers AI.

Surgical and rehab robot makers exhibited in past editions

Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival 2027

Tenth edition of Sheraa's open festival; regional startups including Falcon Robotics exhibit, with AI speakers such as Mo Gawdat.

Falcon Robotics listed among attending startups

Web Summit Qatar 2027

The Gulf's largest general startup conference; AI headliners announced and autonomy startups such as Wayve have exhibited.

Sam Altman and Geoffrey Hinton listed as speakers

World Governments Summit 2027

Invitation-only government summit that regularly stages humanoid and service robots and sets the tone for UAE robotics policy.

Humanoids and robot demos have featured in previous editions

COMEX Global Technology Show 2027

Oman's flagship technology show with consumer and enterprise halls; the easiest place to see gadgets and AI products in Muscat.

Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (next edition)

Multi-million-dollar autonomous robotics challenge run by ASPIRE/ATRC; the last edition pitted unmanned boats and drones against maritime tasks.

Previous edition used autonomous surface vessels and drones from university teams

Step Conference Dubai 2027

Outdoor startup festival in Dubai Internet City; hardware and AI startups demo to investors across six tracks.

Dubai AI Week 2027

Dubai Future Foundation's city-wide AI week; the 2026 edition drew humanoid and service-robot demos alongside 500-plus sessions.

Humanoids and service robots appeared at the 2025 and 2026 editions

Abu Dhabi Global Health Week 2027

Department of Health Abu Dhabi's health-tech week; digital health and AI is a core track, and hospital robots have been demonstrated before.

Qatar Economic Forum 2027

Bloomberg-powered leadership forum; AI economics is a headline pillar, useful for reading where Qatar's technology money goes.

LEAP 2027

Saudi Arabia's giant tech show; past editions filled halls with humanoids and robot dogs, and DeepFest runs alongside for AI.

Humanoid and quadruped demos were prominent in 2025 and 2026 editions

Make it in the Emirates 2027

MoIAT's industrial show with an Advanced Manufacturing, AI and Industry 4.0 sector; UAE-made robots and factory automation on display.

UAE robotics makers such as Micropolis have exhibited at MoIAT events

Arabian Travel Market 2027

Travel trade show where hotels and airports preview concierge, delivery and cleaning robots for Gulf hospitality.

Service robots have been shown on hotel-tech stands in past editions

Global AI Summit (GAIN) 2027

SDAIA's flagship AI summit, postponed a full year from September 2026; humanoid demos featured at the 2024 edition.

2024 edition showcased humanoids and Saudi-built robots

Dubai Airshow 2027

Biennial airshow with a large unmanned and advanced-air-mobility presence; drones, eVTOLs and autonomous aircraft fly and exhibit.

2025 edition featured extensive drone and eVTOL exhibits