Are we closer than ever to seeing lifelike robots becoming the norm, not just tech world novelties that are trotted out at trade shows? Qualcomm is banking on it: the chipmaker has just revealed a new reference design it says will help robotics firms simplify and speed up development.
The Dragonwing IQ10 platform was first announced at CES back in January as a specific processor for use in robots, rather than repurposed smartphone or PC silicon. The reference design – what industry customers will actually be able to get their hands on from June onwards when the firm’s early access programme kicks off – was revealed at Computex.
The Taiwanese tech show is usually more consumer-focused: Qualcomm itself has unveiled a new series of chipsets aimed at affordable laptops to compete with the popular MacBook Neo.
Dragonwing is essentially an off-the-shelf base with all the ports and under-the-hood performance to build a realistic robot around. That includes 18 multi-core Oryon CPUs, a dedicated GPU and a bespoke NPU capable of a massive 700 TOPs of processing for on-device AI. It can also be outfitted with as much as 256GB of LPDDR5 ECC memory, has multiple speedy PCIe lanes, and the latest USB, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards.
There are high speed GMSL2 connections for up to 12 cameras to give each robot visual feedback, and the reference kit can be expanded with 5G mobile data. Qualcomm reckons it has the power efficiency, thermal management and uptime reliability to become a hit with the firms already developing robots – and make it easier for new ones just getting started in the field.
The idea is to help newcomers catch up to the likes of Tesla’s Optimus, without having to spend too much time on the baseline hardware. It also has potential for industrial robots – though those won’t be nearly as glamorous to the firm’s shareholders.
Dragonwing IQ10 supports open development platforms based on Linux, plays nicely with on-device large language models (LLMs) and was designed to make software development much easier than if the entire hardware stack was a scratch build.
What does this mean for the average Joe? Not a whole lot, admittedly. Qualcomm hasn’t said which companies will be first in line for the tech once the early access programme begins, or when we can expect the first robots based around Dragonwing to be revealed.
Thanks to Qualcomm for inviting me to be their guest at Computex 2026. All experiences were hosted but no additional compensation was received.
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