Police in Cologne have seized a small humanoid robot after it allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl's buttocks and made thrusting movements toward her. The case matters because nobody yet knows whether a person, a script or the robot's own software did it, and the law may not have a ready answer.
The incident happened late on October 10, in a busy nightlife area near a fast-food restaurant, police said. The robot's suspected owner, 16, and a 19-year-old companion allegedly filmed it and livestreamed the encounter. Police said officers found the robot in a car trunk and confiscated it along with both men's phones.
What the videos show
The robot stands about 120 cm (roughly 3 ft 11 in) tall, and Cologne police describe it as red and gold. It was dressed in a white tank top, black sweatpants, a gold chain and sunglasses, and appears to have a fake mustache. Online videos show the two young men steering it toward women, bumping into one and hugging others, and one man shouts at it and pulls it back after sexual gestures. German media put its value at around €5,000 (about US$5,600).
Someone involved claimed on TikTok that the robot merely collided with a woman while avoiding a passerby, CBS News reported. Police said longer footage looks different and appears to show deliberate gestures after the first contact.
Who was in control
Cologne police said detectives are examining how the robot was working at the time and whether anyone steered it on purpose. Investigators are checking whether the movements were remote-controlled in real time, pre-programmed, or autonomous reactions from onboard software. Police spokesman Christoph Bermel told the AP the two are suspects but haven't been charged, and called the case "new territory for us".
Police are investigating on suspicion of a "sexually motivated insult". CBS News, citing legal experts who spoke to RTL, reported that German harassment law generally requires direct physical contact between people, and that possible privacy violations over publishing recordings of minors are also in play. We couldn't check that with prosecutors directly, so treat the legal details as the outlets' account, not a confirmed charging decision. The robot's maker and model haven't been named in the sources we read, so we can't say how it is controlled or what it can do on its own.
Watch for what the phone and livestream analysis shows, since police now hold both men's phones. If a person was steering, this is an old offense with a new tool. If the robot acted alone, who answers for it? Where should that line sit when a US$5,600 machine can walk down a street?
Sources
- 1.Police seize humanoid robot after alleged assault on teen · GEEKSPIN
- 2.Police seize humanoid robot after alleged assault on teen · Yahoo News
- 3.Humanoid Robot Gropes Teen Girl; German Police Probe · Deccan Chronicle
- 4.Mutmaßlich ferngesteuerter Roboter fasst 16-Jähriger ans Gesäß - Polizei beschlagnahmt ungewöhnliches Beweismittel (Cologne police report) · Polizei Köln via koeln.de
- 5.German police seize humanoid robot that allegedly groped teen girl, and phones of young men who had it · CBS News
- 6.German Police Seize Humanoid Robot After It Allegedly Gropes 16-Year-Old Girl as Two Men Face Investigation · International Business Times UK
Reported by the WattsUpNext desk from the sources linked below. Spot an error? Tell us at corrections@wattsupnext.com.
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