The combination of artificial intelligence and robotics is causing significant concern among many individuals. While some of these worries might be unfounded, every so often, an event occurs that makes us question our understanding of these technologies. Consider this example: It isn’t a full-scale Skynet scenario, but it does provoke thought. In China, a recently released video seems to show a humanoid robot running amok, aggressively waving its arms at two workers. The reason behind this incident remains unknown.

Footage supposedly captured at an unnamed Chinese factory seems to depict a robot aggressively “lashing out” at employees, and the clip has quickly gained widespread attention online.

The security camera video shows a robot, which resembles a Unitree H1, initially sitting dormant as it hangs from a crane-like mechanism.

Two men are seen conversing in its vicinity.

Suddenly, the robot starts swinging its arms as the men try to avoid its movements. During this outburst, it appears to knock a computer monitor and other items to the ground.

One man eventually gets hold of the crane from which the was hanging in an attempt to restrain it.

Watch:

Not exactly a Terminator, then. To the casual observer, this looks like nothing more than a malfunction, some kind of short-circuit or programming glitch that made the machine go haywire. There doesn’t appear to be any pattern to the “attack.” The robot is just flailing wildly; there’s no indication that it’s aiming to hit either of the workers. So, a malfunction, not an attack, although it’s a malfunction that clearly startled the workers in whatever facility this was.

Now, I’m only speculating here; there’s no information as yet on what caused this.