Humanoid robot kicks child in stomach during demo in China

A Unitree G1 humanoid robot struck a young child in the stomach with a spinning kick during a public demo in China’s Xinjiang region, according to Shanghai Daily. The child doubled over and collapsed but walked away without serious injury.

The video of the incident spread fast on Reddit and other social media platforms. Redditors reacted to the video with different comments. Once user wrote, “and no one bats an eye….” Another wrote, “How are there so many adults yet no one does a thing in response? The kid is crumpled over on the ground and all the adults are just chillin’.” A third user said, “The kid was standing where he shouldn’t be.”

The robot was wearing a clown wig

The robot, fitted with a blue clown wig, was running through choreographed moves for a crowd that included kids when it threw a full roundhouse kick that connected directly with a boy standing nearby.

The child hit the ground while the robot backed away. Bystanders were slow to react and the other kids in the audience mostly just turned back to the robot within seconds.

The G1 was being remotely controlled at the time, not running autonomously. Engineers involved in the demonstration told Vice that the robot was functioning “as intended.”

Robot goes rogue and kicks child
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G1 robot has enough torque to lift a toddler

The G1 robot weighs about 70 pounds and its joint motors can generate more than 100 Newton meters of torque, which means a single joint can lift over 26 pounds. The kick delivered a high level of mechanical force that should not be allowed in public events within close range to people, especially children.

Earlier in 2026, a separate Unitree G1 lost its balance while performing in front of a crowd in China, fell, and started thrashing its limbs on the ground. It hit a man in the nose hard enough to draw blood, Futurism reported.

A federal lawsuit filed in California last year by a former Figure AI engineer alleged that humanoid robots built by that company “were powerful enough to fracture a human skull.” The physical danger these machines pose in uncontrolled settings is becoming harder to ignore.

Humanoid robot demos are moving faster than safety rules

China’s humanoid robotics sector has grown fast. Unitree told local media earlier this year that it expects to ship between 10,000 and 20,000 units in 2026, according to Cryptopolitan reporting. The company sells its G1 at a base price of $13,500, making it one of the most affordable humanoid robots you can actually buy.

That accessibility increases the odds of the machines showing up at public events like trade shows, children’s parties, and mall demos. But the technology remains far better at rehearsed routines than real time situational awareness.

A separate viral video from May showed a humanoid robot at a Shenzhen “robot store” called Future Era attempting to dance to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” before tripping on a stage step and collapsing. The robot had to be dragged offstage by a technician.

No regulatory framework currently governs how close spectators, particularly children, should stand to performing humanoid robots in China or most other markets. Until regulations exist, incidents like these will likely keep happening as the machines grow cheaper and more common at public events.