German Police Seize Livestreamed Robot After Groping Allegation in Cologne

Police in Cologne, Germany, have confiscated a small humanoid robot and two mobile phones following allegations that the machine groped a 16-year-old girl in public. Investigators are examining whether two teenagers directly steered the machine during the encounter. The incident was broadcast live on social media by the teenagers, who offered running commentary while walking the machine down the street.

The encounter took place along the Cologne Ring. Gizmodo, citing the Associated Press, reported that the alleged assault happened during the night of October 10 to 11, while 404 Media noted that a Cologne police statement dated the event to Sunday night, October 11. According to police statements, the robot touched the girl's buttocks and made repeated thrusting movements toward her before the group walked away.

Authorities are pursuing the case under German laws governing sexual insults and defamation of a sexual nature. Cologne police spokesman Christoph Bermel stated that officers are working to determine whether the 16-year-old and 19-year-old suspects manually piloted the machine or relied on automated programming. Bermel noted that the department had not encountered this kind of situation before, describing the case as new territory for local law enforcement.

The machine involved is a Unitree R1, an off-the-shelf model produced by Chinese robotics firm Unitree. The robot stands roughly 3 feet 11 inches tall, features a red and gold finish, and sells for between $4,900 and $5,900. Before the incident, the teenagers had attached a mustache and a large chain necklace to the machine, referring to it online as Ahmad the Robot.

The broadcast was run by a 16-year-old German streamer known online as Agaamuza, who regularly posted videos of the machine interacting with people outside local bars. In footage from the evening, the streamers walked the robot into a group of girls, ignored a request to stop, and asked if the girls wanted to meet the machine. The girls told the streamers to leave them alone before walking away.

Emergency responders later recovered the robot from the trunk of a vehicle. Twitch temporarily suspended the streamer's account following the incident. Agaamuza subsequently published an hour-long video alongside the robot, which was dressed in striped prison attire, claiming that the machine simply ran into the girl and did not grope her.