Science & Technology

Dancing robot goes nuts, causes chaos in California restaurant

By T.K. Randall
March 20, 2026 ·  5 comments

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) It's probably no exaggeration to say that robots are likely going to be everywhere within a few years, meaning that scenes such as this will also be a lot more commonplace before too long.

The bizarre incident began at the Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant in San Jose, California, where customers had been enjoying their meals when a humanoid robot arrived on the scene and started dancing.

At first, everyone enjoyed the robot's dance moves, but then the excitable contraption got a little bit too enthusiastic and a little bit too close to one of the tables, resulting in it swinging its arms on top of plates and dishes, sending food and mess everywhere.

Employees quickly rushed to restrain the machine but actually struggled to do so - in the end it required several people to stop the robot from wildly swinging its arms around.The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the controls only seemed to be available via mobile app.

While the incident was quite amusing to watch, it did strike a chord with quite a few social media users who questioned why it was so difficult to disable the robot.

It's certainly a fair concern - it shouldn't take multiple people to restrain a dancing robot.

Imagine if this was some sort of heavy-duty industrial robot or even a robot designed for combat.

Building an easily accessible 'off' switch into every unit should really be a legal requirement.


Source: Mail Online | Comments (5)

Tags: Robot