Police in Cologne, Germany have seized a robot they said groped a teenage girl and are investigating whether two male teenagers were manually controlling it at the time, the Associated Press reported this week.
The alleged assault occurred on the night of October 10-11, and the two teenagers (aged 16 and 19) suspected to have deployed the robot reportedly livestreamed the incident with commentary. The AP reported that videos posted online show the teenagers walking with the robot at nighttime and “bumping into one [woman] and hugging others.” The exact allegation from police, the AP wrote, is that the robot touched the buttocks of one 16-year-old girl and “made thrusting movements toward her.”
The robot, which is roughly 3 feet 11 inches tall and kind of resembles Iron Man trying to cosplay as Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, is certainly creepy. Police have said the alleged assault falls under laws against insults of a sexual nature, according to DPA.
Cologne police spokesman Christoph Bermel told the AP that investigators are hoping to determine whether the teens were piloting the robot or it was preprogrammed. The outlet further reported emergency personnel had discovered the robot in the trunk of a vehicle, and police have confiscated both the robot and the two teenagers’ phones.
“We have not been aware of this phenomenon so far,” Bermel told the AP, characterizing it as “new territory for us.”
