A Chinese robot named 'Fatty' wreaked havoc at the 18th China Hi-Tech Fair (CHTF) in Shenzhen, China, after it went haywire, destroying a booth and injuring a bystander, reported People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's Communist Party.
'Fatty' - also known as 'Little Chubby' - went out of control soon after it was temporarily left without supervision at the hi-tech fair on Thursday. It suddenly smashed through a glass booth and injured a visitor.
'Fatty' normally has a happy face, but his expression in the CCTV photos show him sad.
"This is the first time in China that a robot has injured a human being," People's Daily wrote.
'Fatty' is a product of Evolver, a Beijing-based company. It is designed for educational purposes for children in the 4-12 age category and costs about $1,500, according to WhatsOnWeibo.com.
Some Chinese netizens on Weibo said that they fear the incident signals the start of the "invasion" of robots.
"This robot is a pioneer in his struggle against humanity," one commenter wrote. "The invasion of the robots has started", another wrote. "The Terminator is out there!" said yet another, according WhatsOnWeibo.com.
However, one of the event organizers said that human error may have been responsible for the mishap. The operator of the robot hit the “forward” button instead of “reverse,” causing 'Little Fatty'to head in the direction of a neighbouring exhibition booth made from glass, he said.
Although this was not the first case that saw a robot 'attack'.
In July, a 16-month-old boy in California got knocked down and run over by a security robot at a shopping centre in Stanford. His parents said the machine is dangerous and that they feared another child will get hurt, abc7news.com reported.
That robot was 5 feet tall and weighed 300 pounds.
