At Computex 2026 in Taipei, a Qualcomm executive’s keynote demo went disastrously wrong when NEURA Robotics’ 4NE-1 humanoid robot, powered by Qualcomm’s Dragonwing IQ10 robotics reference design (RRD) claimed to be capable of 700 TOPS, collapsed noisily on stage. The robot had earlier delivered a platter carrying the IQ10 RRD to the presenter, but seconds later it suddenly fell into a “mechanoid mess.” Stagehands swiftly cloaked the stricken robot with purple silks and carried it off stage left. A Qualcomm spokesperson later stated: “Live demos involve risk. At Computex in Taipei, a brief communication glitch triggered a fault in the prototype humanoid and initiated a controlled shutdown. The robot performed its designed ‘safe-collapse’ sequence, lowering itself to its knees to protect the environment around it. The safety systems worked as intended. The incident also provided valuable real-world data that is helping to further strengthen system reliability and accelerate development of safer, more resilient robotics.” The presenter continued his speech, and the crowd applauded, though observers noted the stagehands’ preparedness.