A tourist attraction meant to captivate children ended up with one of them being beaten up.
China’s flagship robots have shown to malfunction so much that it is hard to take the showcase from February as seriously as before, and now they are endangering children.
‘The humanoid was described as a “Jerk clown robot.”‘
Months ago, Unitree, one of China’s leading robotics companies, was showing off moves that seemed both futuristic and flawless. Now, the cracks have begun show in the models, along with the distinct possibility that they are being used as spy machines.
The latest hijinks from the Unitree G1 model took place at Children’s Day in Xinjiang, China. The public seemingly lined up at the popular tourist spot called the Urumqi Botanical Garden, Newsflare reported, to see a kung-fu demonstration from one of the humanoid bots.
While performing a routine, a robot fitted with a blue wig took just seven seconds to kick a nearby child in the stomach.
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The routine was seemingly stopped, with the robot slowly backing off as it was likely being controlled in some manner.
The bot was described as a “jerk clown robot” by Russian outlet RT, which reported that while the child “was not seriously hurt,” his mother complained that staff at the event were slow to react.
Days earlier, children were presented with similar robots in a “Waste-to-robot” event for kindergartners in Huaibei, Anhui Province, of China. Children crafted their robots out of waste for a presentation, before getting getting their hands on one of Unitree’s expensive ($13,500) G1 bots.
The event was a celebration in the lead-up to Children’s Day.
In late May, another G1 took a stumble seen around the world during an attempt at a Michael Jackson dance routine.
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Feng Shufeng/VCG/Getty Images
While dancing to the classic song “Billie Jean,” a G1 face-planted on a flight of stairs and remained motionless until it was embarrassingly dragged offstage by a staff member.
A different dance routine went off the rails in February when a street-performer bot took a tumble. The robot flailed as the likely owner tried to grab it, resulting in a swift kick in the face that reportedly left the man’s nose bloody.
Axios reported on research last year that showed there was public-facing spyware installed in some of Unitree’s robots, meaning anyone with the proper information could view live camera feeds without login credentials through the bots, specifically Unitree’s G01 robot dogs.
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Robots, China, Xinjiang, Unitree, Tech
