COLOGNE, Germany — A red-and-gold humanoid robot dressed like a bargain-bin Iron Man and nicknamed “Ahmed” stalked the city’s nightlife strip late Saturday, grabbing women from behind, thrusting against them, and pawing at their bodies while two young men with migration backgrounds filmed the whole creepy spectacle and blasted it live on TikTok.
Video circulating online and reviewed by the Vidmax shows the 4-foot-tall Unitree robot, sporting a green military-style jacket, thick gold chain, fake black mustache, and shiny red-and-gold limbs, being paraded down packed pedestrian streets near the LEGO store and bars. Young men in jackets and hoodies egg on female passersby: “Go ahead and hug him, hug him, you have to,” and “Give him a kiss on his eye as a greeting!” One repeatedly shouts “Ahmed! Ahmed! Ahmed!” while the bot waves its mechanical arms and presses in close.
In the most serious incident, police say the robot approached a 16-year-old girl from behind outside a fast-food restaurant near Palmstrasse and Hohenzollernring just before midnight. It allegedly grabbed her buttocks and repeatedly made thrusting motions against her until she screamed and pulled away. The girl was with two teenage friends. Officers were alerted, found the 16-year-old owner and his 19-year-old companion a block away, and discovered the robot stuffed in the trunk of a Volkswagen.
Cologne police spokesman Christoph Bermel confirmed the pair streamed the encounter and provided commentary. Investigators seized the robot and both men’s phones. They are probing whether the movements were remotely controlled or pre-programmed, thrusting and groping are not standard factory behaviors on the roughly €5,000 Chinese-made Unitree R1-series machine.
The suspects, who told people the bot was “from Neukölln” in Berlin, have not been charged but are under investigation for sexual harassment. One is reportedly from Wegberg. Remix News, which first highlighted the footage, noted the men appeared to target multiple women on the busy street, with some laughing it off while others looked uncomfortable or recoiled.
Police released a photo of the seized robot lying on the ground in its gold chain, white vest, and mustache. Bermel told reporters it was “new territory” for local cops. The case is believed to be the first documented instance of a robot being used directly to commit a sexual offense.
The full video, which has drawn hundreds of thousands of views, shows the men continuing to steer the bot toward groups of women even after earlier encounters, with one yelling “Stop it now!” as the machine lunges. German media have identified the model as capable of remote operation or custom programming via its onboard AI and app controls.
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