What should have been a family–friendly dance performance ended in disaster, after a young boy was slapped across the face by a rogue robot.
Shocking footage, filmed at a show in Shaanxi Province, China, on Saturday 21 March, shows a Unitree robot spinning around the stage.
It veers towards the crowd as it performs sweeping arm movements in time to the music.
As the bot gets closer, a young boy can be seen drawing his arms in, in the hopes of avoiding its flailing metal limbs.
Unfortunately, his attempts proved futile, as the robot caught the boy fully in the face during a pirouette.
‘The child anticipated it, but there was no way out,’ one shocked bystander said.
Another added: ‘What a dangerous performance.’
And a third remarked: ‘It really hurts to be hit by metal.’
What should have been a family–friendly dance performance ended in disaster, after a young boy was slapped across the face by a rogue robot
The robot appears to be a G1 humanoid – a popular bot from Unitree Robotics.
It weighs 35 kilograms (77lbs), stands at 1.32 metres (4.33ft) tall, and boasts 23 degrees of freedom in its joints, which gives it more mobility than an average human.
Behind its blank face, the robot is hiding an advanced perception system which includes a 3D LiDAR sensor and a depth–sensing camera.
This makes it one of the most advanced commercially available humanoid robots in the world.
During a recent demonstration, dozens of Unitree bots took to the stage at the CCTV Spring Festival gala, which is China’s most–watched TV show.
Wearing red vests, the robots performed kicks, flips, and even moves with nunchucks, swords, and poles.
Amazingly, their daring performance took place just metres away from human children performers.
However, as the latest incident shows, the bots aren’t always so reliable.
As the bot gets closer, a young boy can be seen drawing his arms in, in the hopes of avoiding its flailing metal limbs
At the end of last year, a Unitree robot went viral after it kicked a man in the groin, while mimicking his movements.
Meanwhile, in November, a bot attempted to cook a stir–fry, but ended up flinging the food on the floor and slipping over in the mess.
The Shaanxi Province incident has garnered huge attention across social media, with hundreds of shocked viewers commenting on the footage.
Taking to X, one wrote: ‘Humanoid robot casually punching a kid… yeah, we’re still far from everyday uncontrolled usage.’
Another added: ‘Parent partially at fault for filming instead of watching the robot getting too close to her kid.’
And one joked: ‘That was personal.’
The news comes shortly after a humanoid robot was arrested by police after terrifying an elderly woman in China.
According to local authorities, the 70–year–old woman was startled by the robot when she suddenly noticed it standing behind her.
A viral clip shows the woman yelling and waving her bag at the diminutive bot, which repeatedly raises its arms in the air.
Footage then shows two police officers escorting the Unitree G1 down the road, with one leading the robot by its shoulder.
Police told reporters that the woman had stopped to check her phone when the robot halted behind her, waiting for her to clear the path.
The elderly pedestrian was then ‘frightened’ to discover that the robot was silently following her down the road.
Following the incident, the woman told police that she was feeling unwell and was taken to hospital for a check–up and treatment.
After doctors confirmed there was no physical altercation between her and the robot, the unnamed woman said that she wouldn’t be filing a complaint against the bot’s operator.
