Company Shows off "Kung Fu Robot"
A Chinese robotics company is making headlines with an electrifying demo that’s straight out of a Jet Li movie. But because of a patchwork of international regulations (and common sense), this could begin and end with…a demo.
The Hangzhou, Zhejiang-based Unitree Robotics has been enjoying some viral publicity with its “kung fu” robot, the H2-X Kung Fu Legend Guardian. A minute-long video shows the H2-X punching cars, doing flips, and even lifting up a car to free its owner.
But here’s where it gets interesting – it also shows the H2-X leaping in front of its owner to ward off an attacker and performing a series of attacks to end the encounter. Whether the H2-X is meant to have physically struck said attacker or not – because that distinction is important – Unitree is opening a huge can of regulatory worms since an (obscenely expensive) robotic assistant is exponentially different from a robotic bodyguard.
Or any bodyguard, mind you.
According to People’s Daily Online, bodyguards – human or otherwise – “must be unarmed (carrying firearms or lethal weapons is illegal), must work through licensed domestic security companies, and operate under strict state surveillance and local legal limits.”
A robot capable of offensive violence isn’t inherently illegal – over 50 countries, China included, currently deploy military robotics with lethal capabilities, but deploying said robots domestically, for consumer usage, is far more dicey.
The H2-X can last about 8 hours per charge, and though Unitree is mum on pricing – or even whether it’ll be on sale – TechRadar points out that the similar Unitree H2 robot, a 1.8-meter tall humanoid, costs around $29,900.
