A humanoid robot has been led away by police in bizarre scenes after it appeared to harass an elderly woman on a public street in China.
Vision shared to social media showed the resident berating the human-like android, who was standing next to the 70-year-old woman, and raising its metal arms in the air.
The woman was visibly annoyed and berated the machine.
“You’re making my heart race. You can do plenty but you want to cause this mess? You’re crazy,” she said in Cantonese, while other bystanders watched on.
The clip then showed two police officers, one with his hand on the shoulder of the robot, leading it away along a footpath.
The incident happened in Macau, a special administrative region of China.
According to local reports, the woman was taken to hospital as a precaution. She was not physically injured and later discharged.
Police said the 70-year-old was on her phone at the time when the robot appeared suddenly behind her near a residential complex.
It was discovered the machine belonged to an education centre that had been using the technology for promotional activities.
It was returned to its 50-year-old operator nearby who said the robot was being supervised remotely, but also was guided by mixed programming.
The man said the incident happened on a narrow street when the elderly woman stopped to check her mobile phone. The robot waited behind her.
But he admits the woman was likely startled when she turned around and saw it.
The operator apologised and was given a warning by authorities.
Social media users were quick to joke the humanoid was being “arrested” by police.
Others argued the elderly woman had overreacted.
Multiple reports suggest the android depicted in the clip was a G1, unveiled in May 2024 by Chinese company Unitree.
It is one of the more “affordable” robots on the market, with a starting price of USD$13,500 or almost A$20,000, for the base model.
The humanoid stands at 130 centimetres and weighs about 35 kilograms. It has a 360 degree detection perception camera attached to its face and a speaker on its chest.
The Hangzhou-based company said the G1 has more flexibility than the average human due to its 23-43 joint motors from head to toe.
“Combined with force-position hybrid control, it is sensitive and reliable, and can simulate human hands to achieve precise operation of objects,” the website states.
It has an average battery life of two hours, can run up to two metres a second and “evolves everyday” with the help of artificial intelligence.
Robots have appeared on streets around the world in the past year, from small machines on wheels delivering fast food to humanoids roaming the streets or in the boxing ring.
In September last year, a Unitree G1 robot was spotted roaming the streets in Brisbane.
John Roberts, Professor in Robotics at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), said it was bought for its robotics department where students can get a “basic understanding” of robots and what they can do now versus in the future.
“We have had this robot for about four weeks now and we are getting to grips with how it works and starting to plan how we will direct our robotics research to take advantage of these kinds of general-purpose robots – humanoids,” he told The Courier Mail.
“Our robot has basic capabilities at the moment, it can walk, it can run, it can stand.
“We want our students to get a basic understanding of what a humanoid robot can and can’t do at the moment and what they might be able to do with some more development.
“The focus of our research is on how these robots will be used in the future and then what needs to be done to get to that point.”
