Qualcomm is rolling out a new robotics platform aimed at teams trying to get past the prototype stage. The Dragonwing IQ10 Robotics Reference Design (RRD), set to be unveiled at Computex 2026, bundles compute, sensors, networking, and software into one deployment-ready system. Global availability is scheduled for September 2026.
The platform pushes up to 700 TOPS of AI performance, runs on 18 Qualcomm Oryon CPU cores, and packs multicore NPUs alongside a GPU. The idea is to handle perception, planning, and reasoning on-device, without bolting on external accelerators.
A full-stack design built around the Dragonwing IQ10 processor for production robots
Robots today need to see, sense, move, and adapt at the same time. The Dragonwing IQ10 RRD is built for exactly that kind of workload. It natively supports up to 12 GMSL2 cameras, alongside LiDAR, Time-of-Flight sensors, IMUs, and more. Sensor ingestion happens directly on the platform, which Qualcomm says keeps data streams synced and cuts the lag between sensing and acting.
For motion control, the design leans on high-speed deterministic interfaces like PCIe, TSN, USB, and CAN, along with Ethernet, EtherCAT, and CAN-FD. The enclosed system runs from -40 to 70°C and accepts 12V or 24V input, with integrated forced-air cooling for harsher deployment environments like factory floors and outdoor sites.
Software stack covers everything from on-device AI to fleet management in the cloud
The software side is where Qualcomm is really trying to differentiate. The stack includes on-device AI runtimes for low-latency perception, ROS2 support to keep hardware and application logic separate, and platform services for sensing, planning, and actuation. Lifecycle management runs through the Qualcomm AI Hub, which takes care of deployment, monitoring, and iterative updates.
The functional spread is wide: perception, navigation, localization, planning, control, manipulation, task orchestration, and even natural language interaction for human-robot interfaces.
Qualcomm has lined up a sizeable list of early access partners, including NEURA Robotics, Advantech, APLUX, Booster, Innodisk, MeiG, NEXCOM, Radxa, Thundercomm, and VinMotion. The platform is targeting industrial robots, autonomous mobile robots, and humanoid systems, with the broader pitch being a single foundation that scales as robots get more sensor-heavy and more autonomous.
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