Robot ‘Fights Back’ After Customer Shoves It in Russian Store, Staff Forced to Drag Machine to the Floor

A humanoid robot stationed inside a Russian electronics store appeared to lunge and keep coming after a customer shoved it, forcing staff to physically grab the machine and wrestle it down while it continued moving, a clip that has exploded online and left viewers asking whether these machines are still a novelty or something more unsettling.

The overhead footage shows a man in a black T-shirt walking up to the bipedal robot near a display counter and giving it a push. Within seconds, the machine steps toward him. A second employee rushes in. Two men then seize the robot by the torso and arms, dragging it across the tiled floor as its legs keep working. Nawfal wrote that it “wasn’t a cute glitch or a stumble” and that “this kind of clip used to be funny… now it’s not.”

Social media users immediately reached for Hollywood. Comments compared the scene to The Terminator and joked that “we’re in trouble.” Others treated it as another reminder that humanoid robots, many of them Chinese-made Unitree-style machines now appearing in shops from Moscow to malls worldwide, are no longer confined to factory floors and trade-show stages.

Either way, the images land at a moment when governments and companies are racing to put walking robots in public. Russia has spent the past year showcasing its own humanoids, some of which have face-planted on stage, while imported machines already greet shoppers and pose for photos. Safety experts have long warned that a 50- to 80-pound biped with powerful actuators can hurt someone if its balance software or “recovery” routine misfires in a crowded aisle.

For now, the video is doing what viral robot clips always do: half the internet is laughing, the other half is wondering how long it will be before the next shove isn’t treated as a joke.