Now we’ve got robots that can chase and kick us — is this the robot revolution we signed up for?

A robot may not injure a human being, at least according to the late science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It’s a rule that the EngineAI T800 robot may have missed, as evidenced by the “combat robot” forcefully kicking its company’s CEO in a now-viral video.

This is apparently the season of running, punching, and kicking down the doors of humanoid robots, a period that closely follows the time of a safe embrace from a variety of fabric-covered humanoids.

Let’s focus, first, on the somewhat startling video from EngineAI, which was actually a response to claims that a previous video showing their T800 forcefully pounding a punching bag, kicking down doors, running, and pulling off round-house kicks was AI- or CGI-generated.

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Behind-the-scenes footage from the EngineAI T800 shoot — a direct response to the CG accusations. – YouTube

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This “Behind the Scenes” production (seen above) appeared to show EngineAI developers filming all of the person-sized robot’s capabilities.

However, these Chinese robot companies have a habit of taking the proof even further (maybe too far). You may remember Iron, a humanoid robot so realistic that the company felt the need to cut away the synthetic skin to prove that there wasn’t a person underneath.

EngineAI’s go-for-broke proof, though, was a real…er…kicker.

Oof!

EngineAI suited up CEO Zhao Tongyang with ample padding, then let the T800 give him a good, hard, and, I’d say, terrifying kick to the midsection. Naturally, Tongyang went flying, though he appeared more or less unharmed.

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I stumbled on these videos just days after seeing fresh updates from Figure AI’s Figure 03 and Tesla Optimus. Both robots can, if you believe the videos, now run like humans, and at up to 6mph.

To put that in perspective, most humans can jog at that speed (thankfully, no robot has been seen running at Olympian Usain Bolt’s spectacular 23mph).

Figure 03 vs Tesla Optimus: Which Robot Runs More Like a Human? – YouTube

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The video comparing Figure 03 and Optimu’s gait is particularly instructive as it shows how both humanoids achieve a true run; in short, for a split second, both feet are off the ground.

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Optimus’s overall jog style is more natural. I’d reckon the training (or animation) was probably based more on real people and less on a programmer guessing at what the body should look like during a full jog.

This can’t be good

So, yes, we now have robots chasing us, so perhaps they can give us a good, hard kick. Maybe we deserve it. After all, there are countless videos of robot “abuse” in which developers try to push, knock over, and otherwise disrupt robot activities, all in the name of testing.

It’s been hard not to feel sorry for these robots, especially if, as people often do, you anthropomorphize them. They’re not human, but the more they look and act like us, the more we ascribe human emotions to them.

These videos flip that equation on its head. EngineAI, in particular, seems hell-bent on making a robot that can fight back, though the goal is not, for now at least, to fight us. In fact, much of this is, as I see it, a stunt to promote the company’s upcoming Robot Boxing Match on December 24. This match follows an earlier Mecha Fighting Series, held in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province.

Unitree G1 Humanoid Robot Boxing: All the WILDEST Highlights | What The Future – YouTube

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Those matches were memorable mostly for the poor quality of the inter-robot battle. Most of the boxing bots were child-sized, and there were a lot of missed swings and falling over.

If real, T800 looks like a far more adept and dangerous boxer, a sort of poster child for our wildest dystopian robotic future fears.

Why roboticists are now delivering running, punching, dangerous robots instead of what we want – robots that can empty the dishwasher in five minutes – is beyond me.

All these EngineAI T800 videos may turn out to be fakes, but the intentions are real, and it’s the opposite of what we want in our inevitable robot future.

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