Running like Jacobs but he can’t control himself and hits a safety cushion, falls and explodes. It happened to a humanoid robot in Beijing, China, during the World Robot Conference. A malfunction captured in a video that went viral on social media. In the images you can see the robot doing a test run: it picks up too much speed, is unable to stop or turn, crashes into a protective barrier placed on the track and falls backwards while sparks come out at waist height.
The event is highly anticipated among industry experts, but not only. China sought to showcase its high-tech progress as the world’s largest maker of humanoid robots Unitree Robotics makes its stock market debut.
Humanoid robots have been center-stage at this week’s World Robot conference in Beijing, China, but this one was in the center of the ring, sparring in a boxing match against a human opponent. https://t.co/nDo7YzP7oc pic.twitter.com/Dnwqokh3Gn
— ABC News (@ABC) August 21, 2026
Between technological marvels and automatons that become partners in the ring or on the ping pong court, it is often the failures that attract attention: this robot seems to be having an epileptic seizure after losing its remote connection. And engineers have their work cut out for them to control it.