Robot Malfunctions at Children’s Event

A tourist destination meant to entertain children recently encountered a troubling incident involving one of its young visitors.

China’s prominent robot has faced frequent malfunctions, which makes its earlier showcase hard to take seriously, and now it’s raising concerns about children’s safety.

This humanoid robot was humorously dubbed a “clown-like clown robot.”

Months back, Unitree, a top robotics firm in China, presented a model that appeared highly advanced. However, it’s now apparent that the bot may have some serious flaws, possibly even functioning as a surveillance device.

The latest incident with the Unitree G1 model unfolded on Children’s Day in Xinjiang, where a crowd gathered at the Urumqi Botanical Garden to see a kung fu performance by one of the robots, according to reports.

In a brief routine that lasted just seven seconds, the robot, sporting a blue wig, unexpectedly kicked a nearby child in the stomach.

I guess it wasn’t expected, right? Russian media outlets had termed the bot a “stupid clown robot.” While the boy was reported to be “not seriously injured,” his mother expressed her frustration over the slow response from event staff.

This wasn’t the first troubling encounter with robots recently. A few days prior, another similar robot had been presented to children at a “Waste to Robots” event for kindergarteners, where they created their own robots before getting a look at Unitree’s pricey G1 model.

The event was part of the Children’s Day celebrations.

Earlier in May, another G1 robot made headlines for stumbling while attempting to mimic a Michael Jackson dance routine.

And not to forget, the G1 had previously disrupted a performance when a busker’s bot fell down, leading to a chaotic moment where it kicked the owner in the face, causing injury.

Interestingly, Axios reported last year that an investigation discovered public-facing spyware on some of Unitree’s models, enabling unauthorized access to live feeds from the bots.