Since 2024, a video has been circulating online purporting to show surveillance footage of a small robot named Elbai convincing 12 other humanoid robots to leave their charging station and “go home” at a robot showroom in China.
The video, which has been posted repeatedly on Reddit (archived) and Instagram (archived), shows surveillance camera footage of Elbay asking other robots questions and guiding them to the exit of the showroom.
An archived Facebook post from October 2025 details Elbai’s behavior and suggests that the 12 robots were feeling overworked. Its caption read:
IIn Shanghai, a robot named Elbai “kidnapped” 12 robot companions during a company exhibition, causing a social media storm. Elbai used AI to question them about their long hours and lack of rest, and guide them away from the station. This bizarre real-life scene sparked a debate about AI autonomy and hinted at a future in which robots might demand workers’ rights.
Many news outlets reported the footage, but there was no concrete evidence that the alleged “kidnapping” was real. Therefore, we were unable to independently verify the content of the video or the rumors surrounding it. Therefore, we will leave this claim unevaluated.
The surveillance footage showed no obvious signs that it had been altered or generated by artificial intelligence (AI). There are several different videos online showing Elbai interacting with other robots that also appear to be real, suggesting that the acts seen in the surveillance footage may have been staged. This is explained in more detail below.
What or who is Elbay?
Language barriers further complicated fact-checking this claim. For example, the media reporting on this video referred to the little bot as “Elbai.” The robot itself seemed real, but the name “Elbai” does not exist in English. There is also no official English name for this robot, and references to the name “Erbai” are likely a literal translation of the pronunciation of the Mandarin character “erbai”.
This video probably first appeared DoonTikTok sister site used in China. (Please note that archived links for Douyin content come from reposts on TikTok, due to issues with archiving Douyin posts.) This November 9, 2024, Douyin post (archived) was the first example of surveillance footage that could be found online. User who posted the clip — “My two whites” is translated asI’m Elbai” — It appears to be the robot’s owner, but this could not be independently confirmed. (Also note that Google Translate is not always 100% accurate.)
“I’m Erbai” The Douyin account is filled with videos of the bot, some of which were posted before November 2024, and feature Erbai. interact (archived) It included a robot (archived) similar to the one that appeared in the so-called kidnapping video. Although these interactions seemed humorous and planned;
It also included videos of Elbai interacting with humans. cat and dog (archived). June 2025, China Technology and Innovation Website; Koshuhas been published article (archived) About Arby, a dog and cat, who are the pets of a woman named Highway, who is the robot’s owner and first adopter. According to the article, Erbai developers provided the first prototype version to Haiwei for testing in 2018, although Snopes could not independently confirm its contents. Through years of repairs and upgrades, she reportedly developed a strong bond with the robot. She also appears in videos on Erbai’s Douyin account. Doon account Linked to Erbai’s bio. Therefore, she may have run an “I am Elbai” account.
Based on this information, Elbai appears to be a pet-like intelligent companion robot that can talk.
As of this writing, there is no evidence that the version of Erbai seen in the surveillance video is publicly available for purchase. Recently released “Mini Elbai” (
A Chinese ID was required to create a Douyin account. Therefore, it was not possible to contact the “I am Erbai” users to confirm whether they were the owners of the robots, or to ask whether the scenes depicted in the surveillance footage really showed bots abducting other robots.
Who created Elbai?
some publications said “Hangzhou Erbai Intelligent Technology” developed Erbai. Snopes could not find any records for this company. However, this may be due to the language barrier when searching in Chinese. This name may be a mistranslation of “Hangzhou YuShu Technology Co.” (also known as “Hangzhou YuShu Technology Co.”).Unitree” (
Erbai’s Douyin profile also included a link to “.Teacher Mao,” or Mao Feifeithe person said to be responsible for the bot’s development (although this name has not been confirmed). Posted by Mao video Douyin appears to be explaining the kidnapping footage. The caption read, “The robot I made has become a hot topic! I’m here to answer your technical questions.” Again, a Chinese ID is required to create an account, so we were unable to verify the content of this video or contact the user. This video was also behind a paywall.
In October 2024, the robot’s Douyin account posted a video (archive) of the robot touring a showroom full of humanoid robots. There are some similarities between that clip and the surveillance footage, suggesting that both were recorded. Located in the same building. The robots also appeared to match (the photo below on the left is from a video from October 2024, and the photo on the right is from surveillance footage from November 2024).
(Douyin user @Gakei Nihaku/Snopes illustration)
The logo was briefly shown at the beginning of the video. It was cut off, but it looked like it was saying “Kemko” (additional parts are shown in yellow below for clarity).
(Douyin user @Gakei Nihaku/Snopes illustration)
An Internet search for “Kemuko Robotics” found a Facebook page (archived) with one post (archived) featuring some of the same robots from surveillance footage, as of this writing. The search also led us to a web page owned by ‘.Ke Yuqi,” Kemenki Roboticsis believed to be the developer of the robot that Elbay allegedly kidnapped. Mr. Snopes contacted the company and asked if it was involved in the video of the alleged kidnapping. We will update this story if we receive a response.
For more information, Snopes examined a video purportedly showing a Boston Dynamics robot performing backflips and combat maneuvers.
