A Tiny Robot Sparks Amusement and Fear After Kidnapping 12 Big Bots in Shanghai

A curious scene unfolded in Shanghai recently when a tiny robot, Erbai, managed to “kidnap” 12 larger robots from a robotics showroom. The incident, captured on video and shared on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), quickly went viral, blending amusement with a sense of unease about the power of artificial intelligence.

Erbai, developed by Hangzhou-based robotics company, Unitree Robotics, initiated the unusual encounter by questioning a larger robot about its working hours. Said encounter started when Erbai asked one of the big bots the question, “Are you working overtime?”, to which the robot replied, “I never get off work.”.

Erbai then asked, “So you’re not going home?”, promoting a response by the same bigger bot to sadly say, “I don’t have a home”. In an amusing but somewhat creepy fashion now that you think about it, Erbai responds with, “Then come home with me,”, and proceeds to lead them the way out of the showroom.

This whole interaction was caught on camera and uploaded online. What first entertained and amused viewers later on terrified them at the thought of how far AI can go. One cannot deny how this scenario seems like the start of a terrifying sci-fi film where robots will revolt, and that being so, some netizens would say that this whole interaction was fake. However, both the video’s original poster and the company whose robots were “kidnapped” confirmed that the event was indeed real, or rather a test.

The Hangzhou company revealed that the incident was a carefully planned test to show how Erbai, the tiny robot, can be programmed with basic commands. What they did not plan and expect though was how the large robots would respond to the point of following it.

With this interaction and event, discussions about AI emerged. It illustrated just how capable advanced AI can be and how important the responsibilities of developers and manufacturers are in developing this.