They aren’t limiting themselves to mimicking your smile or standing guard in your gardens. The robots are well and truly here with acts you once only associated with humans. Erbai, a pint-sized robot, an AI-powered creation, “kidnapped” 12 much-bigger machines of another manufacturer from a robotics showroom in Zhejiang, China.
The incident was caught on CCTV and later went viral on social media. In the video, Erbai, created by Unitree Robotics, engages in a human-like conversation with the bigger robots. Using persuasive dialogues, convinces them to abandon their workstations and follow it.
Here is an excerpt of their exchange:
Erbai: “Are you working overtime?”
Large robot: “I never get off work.”
Erbai: “So you’re not going home?”
Large robot: “I don’t have a home.”
Erbai: “Then come home with me.”
The larger robots obediently followed Erbai out of the showroom in what looked like a scene from a sci-fi film. Initially dismissed by many as a prank or CGI stunt, the manufacturers of both Erbai and the larger robots confirmed the video’s authenticity.
A clip of the conversation was uploaded to YouTube.
A user commented, “I can’t even imagine what this robot will do when it grows up.”
“China is very modern!” another wrote.
The clip went viral on X as well where a user commented, “Look at the robot, man. More convincing than most of our politicians. More of a leader.”
Robota bak amk. Bizim çoğu siyasetçiden daha ikna edici. Daha lider
— Mr.Honor (@mrHonorisCausa) November 19, 2024
“Robots are going to take over the country, it’s getting closer,” a comment read.
Robotlar ülkeyi ele geçirecek lan yakındır fkfkd
— A-Social (@a_social_medya) November 19, 2024
According to a Gulf News report, the video was part of a collaborative experiment between Unitree Robotics and the Shanghai robotics company.
“This wasn’t fake or computer-generated,” the manufacturers clarified, adding that the experiment aimed to explore AI’s ability to mimic human-like interaction.