Humanoid robot caused controversy when it groped reporters

Male robot Mohammad behaved inappropriately with a female reporter during a technology event taking place in Riyadh .

Robot Mohammad's behavior is controversial. (Video: Megh Updates)

A humanoid robot developed by Saudi Arabia's robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) company QSS touched the hip of a female reporter, causing a lot of controversy on social networks, Interesting Engineering reported on March 9. The incident occurred at DeepFest , a high-end technology event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Here, QSS launched the Mohammad robot with a male appearance. With a red keffiyeh and wearing traditional clothing, Mohammad introduced himself.

"I am Mohammad, the first Saudi Arabian robot shaped like a man. I was produced and developed as a national project to demonstrate achievements in the field of artificial intelligence ," said Mohammad.

During the live report, Lebanese TV reporter and host Rawya Kassem experienced an unexpected situation when standing in front of the AI ​​robot Mohammad. While Kassem was reporting, Mohammad touched her hip. Kassem responded quickly by turning towards the robot, expressing his annoyance before continuing to complete the job. Video recording the incident quickly spread on social networks.

 While Kassem was reporting, Mohammad touched her hip.

Responding to the incident, the manufacturer confirmed that Mohammad is "fully automatic" and that it operates independently without a direct operator. Some people believe that the robot may be trying to persuade Kassem to stand forward or extend a hand to welcome her after the female reporter introduced herself. "We have conducted a thorough review of the footage and circumstances surrounding the incident and Mohammad's movements are not deviant behavior. However, we will add measures to prevent anyone from getting close to the robot within its range of motion ," QSS said.

Mohammad is an evolved version of Sara, the first humanoid robot developed by Saudi Arabia. QSS's robot can speak many languages, communicate, receive commands and respond to requests. The robot model can also move its arms, neck, upper body, and express emotions and facial expressions. Artificial intelligence is used through the built-in camera to determine when a person is in front of the robot. Whenever someone says "Hello, Sara" , the robot will start a conversation. Using a pre-trained model, Sara can identify dialects across the country, analyze phrases to understand meaning, then provide appropriate responses in text form.

The development of robotics technology, especially humanoid robots, has always sparked fears that systems will take away human jobs in the future. However, few people think that such systems can imitate some undesirable human behavior. Mohammad's incident shows that AI and humanoid robot systems require extensive training and simulation before widespread use in public places.