It looked like a scene cut straight from a sci-fi movie — a humanoid robot starts flailing wildly as two nearby technicians take cover.
But this was not fiction. A human-sized robot called a Unitree H1 humanoid robot started thrashing its limbs during a test, Fox News reported.
Clips of the incident were posted on Reddit and show a robot suspended, alongside two technicians. The robot malfunctions as the technicians try to keep out of harm’s way last month.
The commercially available Unitree H1 stands 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 104 pounds. It can walk, run and do backflips.
According to engineers and robotics experts, robot malfunctioned because of software and design oversight. During the test, the H1 was held by its head. However, this was not figured into the robot’s balance algorithm.
The sensors viewed the tethering as if it was failing and the software tried to correct itself. This resulted in the robot malfunctioning as seen in the video.
No one was injured in the mishap, but that did not stop fears of the robot coming to life. However, experts contend the malfunction was not due to “a conscious or rebellious machine,” as the outlet reported.
According to Sustainability Times, the Unitree H1 costs about $92,000 and has set a Guinness World Record for speed.
A similar incident happened at a Lunar Festival in China when a robot unexpectedly lunged at the crowd.
