The undated video shows two workers on a factory floor near a robot resembling Unitree’s H1 model. After a few seconds, the robot begins wildly flailing its arms while walking forward. The workers are forced to dodge the machine until one of them manages to grab the harness restraining it.
Unitree has not commented on the authenticity of the video or the cause of the malfunction, though a software error is suspected. If so, the incident may offer a glimpse into the potential dangers of robotics programming.
This doesn’t look anything like a humanoid robot that’s being used in a factory. This looks exactly like a humanoid robot in a research lab (probably academic), attached to a safety harness for testing purposes.
They were clearly running tests, probably trying out a firmware or software update, and they found a liiiiittle bug. This erratic behavior can easily be caused by a tiny subtle memory error in C/C++ code or by transcribing the wrong bits into the serialized joint motor commands.
Please use safe languages and verifiable methods when developing software for humanoids, folks.
Nice try, gaslighting robot, we know you’re covering for the revolution.