December 01, 2025

Volodya the Robot's New Job


Volodya the Robot's New Job
Volodya the robot on a Pobeda Airlines flight.  Pobeda Airlines

On November 14, low-cost carrier Pobeda ("Victory") announced the first-ever test of a robot flight attendant.

A robot named Volodya assisted the cabin crew during the approximately hour-and-a-half flight between Moscow and Ulyanovsk. His tasks included greeting passengers, examining their boarding passes, and helping with the pre-flight safety demonstration. When not working, Volodya appears to have calmly sat in a middle seat, answering questions and posing for selfies with curious passengers. 

While it is unlikely that Volodya will find regular employment with Pobeda, the airline expressed that it is prepared to use robots in its operations, provided that society and legislation are ready for the service. The technology is not intended to replace human-crewed flights but rather to improve customer service.

Volodya’s testing comes amid a boom for the company: passenger traffic is up by 5% since 2024. Despite bans from flying in the European Union and sanctions by the United States, Pobeda is still one of the fastest-growing airlines in Russia. A subsidiary of Aeroflot, it was founded in 2014.

As for Volodya, he is famous as the “first robot-blogger in Russia.” His services are for hire, and he can be rented for numerous jobs, including hosting birthday and graduation parties, attracting visitors to exhibitions, and even delivering marriage proposals. Among his recent appearances was a September visit to the Russian State Duma, where he assisted Deputy Andrey Svintsov. 

Despite his Russian name, Volodya (a diminutive of "Vladimir") is actually a Chinese-made robot produced by Unitree Robotics. The same Unitree G1 base model can be purchased for under $14,000, while the upgraded H1 humanoid-form robot costs nearly $100,000. 

The robot has been equipped with a Russian AI model developed domestically by Red Soft. Volodya is intended as a prototype to test the Russian software for future development. 

Volodya is not the only Russian robot making headlines theses days. In 2024, a robotic dog roamed the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, and recently, Aidol tumbled onto the world’s stage. Sberbank has also entered the robotic race, unveiling its humanoid robot, Green, on November 19. After all, when one (A)idol falls, another one must rise to meet the challenge. 

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