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November 20 2016
Yes, it has begun. How ‘dangerous’ is this robot? Only time will tell.
Perhaps this A.I. named Little Chubby, was just unhappy about being a made-in-China robot.
Although initial reports all suggested that the robot acted of its own accord, Sina.com says that the incident was in fact caused by human error. An official at the tech event said that someone simply mixed up the robot’s ‘forward’ and ‘back’ buttons, sending the robot crashing into a display stand and injuring the unfortunate bystander.
Chinese Robot Smashes Booth and Injures Man at Shenzhen Hi-Tech Fair
For the first time in China, a robot has injured a person. The Chinese robot turned violent at the China Hi-Tech fair (CHTF) in Shenzhen. Some Chinese netizens fear the incident signals the start of the invasion of the robots, What’s on Weibo found. For the first time in China, a robot has ‘attacked’ and injured a person. The incident occurred at the 18th China Hi-Tech Fair, that kicked off in Shenzhen on November 16th. A robot called ‘Little Chubby’ (小胖) was temporarily left without supervision at the hi-tech fair, after which it suddenly smashed through a glass booth and injured a visitor.
According to Chinese media, the visitor has been taken to the hospital for his injuries shortly after the unsupervised robot smashed the booth.
Little Chubby is designed for children in the 4-12 age category and is used as an educational robot. The Chinese robot, produced by a Beijing-based tech company, can be purchased for approximately 1460 US$ (9988元) on Chinese e-commerce websites. Now that it seems that Little Chubby has some serious flaws, parents might think twice before buying the robot for their children. The Little Chubby robot did not look too happy after its violent outburst.
Although some netizens on Sina Weibo expressed their concern over the incident, many found the news amusing: “This robot is a pioneer in his struggle against humanity,” one commenter wrote. “The invasion of the robots has started”, another person wrote. “The Terminator is out there!” one other Weibo user said. The China Hi-Tech Fair, held at the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, is the leading technology event of China. The 6-day annual fair brings together thousands of the hottest and latest technological innovations.
“Maybe Little Chubby was just unhappy about being a made-in-China robot,” one netizen said. – By Manya Koetse