Since 2024, a video has circulated online purportedly showing surveillance footage of a small robot, named Erbai, convincing 12 other humanoid robots at a robotics showroom in China to leave their charging stations and “go home.”
The video repeatedly appeared on the likes of Reddit (archived) and Instagram (archived) and featured clips from a CCTV camera showing Erbai questioning the other robots and leading them toward the showroom’s exit.Â
One October 2025 Facebook post (archived) elaborated on Erbai’s actions, suggesting the 12 robots felt overworked. Its caption read:
In Shanghai, a robot named Erbai caused a social media storm by “kidnapping” 12 fellow robots during a company exhibition. Using AI, Erbai questioned them about long hours and lack of rest, then led them away from their stations. The bizarre real-life scene sparked debates on AI autonomy and hints at a future where robots might demand labor rights.
Many outlets reported on the footage, but there was no concrete evidence that the alleged “kidnapping” was authentic; therefore, it was not possible to independently verify the content of the video or the rumor surrounding it. As such, we have left this claim unrated.
The surveillance clips did not show any obvious signs of being altered or generated with artificial intelligence (AI). There were several different videos online of Erbai and the other robots interacting that also appeared authentic, suggesting that the actions seen in the surveillance footage could have been staged. More on this below.
What, or who, is Erbai?
The language barrier added complications to fact-checking this claim. For example, media outlets reporting on the video referred to the little bot as “Erbai.” The robot itself appeared to be real, but the name “Erbai” does not exist in English. There was also no official English name for the robot, and mentions of the name “Erbai” were likely just direct translations of the phonetics of the Mandarin Chinese characters “二白.”
The footage likely first appeared on Douyin, TikTok’s sister site used in China. (Note that any archived links for Douyin content come from reposts on TikTok due to issues archiving Douyin posts). This Nov. 9, 2024, Douyin post (archived) was the earliest example of the surveillance footage that could be found online. The user who posted the clip — “我系二白,” which translated to “I am Erbai” — appeared to be the person who owned the robot but it was not possible to independently verify this. (It is also worth noting that Google Translate is not always 100% accurate.)
The “I am Erbai” Douyin account was full of videos of the bot, some of which were posted before November 2024 and showed Erbai interacting (archived) with robots (archived) that looked similar to those in the so-called kidnapping footage. These interactions were humorous and seemed planned out, supporting the idea that Erbai’s actions in the surveillance video were staged to some extent.
It also contained a video of Erbai interacting with a cat and dog (archived). In June 2025, a Chinese technology and innovation website, Huxiu, published an article (archived) about Erbai, the cat and the dog being pets for a woman called Haiwei, the robot’s alleged owner and first adopter. According to the article, which Snopes could not independently verify the content of, Erbai’s developer gave Haiwei the first prototype version in 2018 as a test. Through years of repairs and upgrades, she reportedly said she developed a close bond with the robot. She also seemed to appear in videos on Erbai’s Douyin account, while her Douyin account is linked to in Erbai’s bio. Therefore, it is possible that she ran the “I am Erbai” account.
Based on this information, Erbai appeared to be an intelligent companion robot, like a pet that can speak.
As of this writing, there was no evidence the version of Erbai from the surveillance video was available for general purchase. A recently released “mini Erbai” (archived) appeared to be the only publicly released version of the bot.
Chinese ID was required to create a Douyin account; therefore, it was not possible to contact the “I am Erbai” user to confirm whether they owned the robot, nor to ask whether the scene depicted in the surveillance footage authentically showed the bot kidnapping other robots.
Who created Erbai?
Some publications said “Hangzhou Erbai Intelligent Technology” developed Erbai. Snopes found no record of this company; however, this could have been due to the language barrier when searching for it in Mandarin. The name could have been a mistranslation of “Hangzhou YuShu Technology Co.,” also known as “Unitree” (see first footnote of link), a company that multiple outlets said developed Erbai. Snopes contacted Unitree for confirmation and to ask whether it was involved in the making of the video. We will update this story if it replies.
Erbai’s Douyin bio also included links to “Teacher Mao,” or Mao Feifei, the person allegedly in charge of the bot’s development (though this name is unverified). Mao posted a video on Douyin seemingly explaining the kidnapping footage. The caption read: “My own robot has gone viral! Here, I’ll answer some technical questions for everyone.” Again, the requirement of a Chinese ID to create an account meant it was not possible to confirm this video’s content or to contact the user. The video was also behind a paywall.
In October 2024, the robot’s Douyin account posted a video (archived) of the bot touring a showroom filled with humanoid robots. There were several similarities between that clip and the surveillance footage, suggesting both were recorded in the same building. The robots also seemed to match (the photo below on the left is from the October 2024 video, while the picture on the right is from the November 2024 surveillance footage).
(Douyin user @我系二白/Snopes Illustration)
A logo also briefly appeared at the start of the video. Although it was cut off, it appeared to say “Kemuko” (for clarity, our addition below is in yellow).
(Douyin user @我系二白/Snopes Illustration)
Searching the internet for “Kemuko Robotics” uncovered a Facebook page (archived) with a single post (archived), as of this writing, featuring some of the same robots from the surveillance footage. The search also led to a webpage owned by “科梦奇,” Kemenqi Robotics, which appeared to be the developer of the robots Erbai allegedly kidnapped. Snopes contacted the company to ask if it was involved in the alleged kidnapping video. We will update this story if it replies.
For further reading, Snopes investigated a video allegedly showing a Boston Dynamics robot doing backflips and fighting moves.
