Law enforcement authorities in Cologne, Germany, have seized a physical robot following an unusual criminal complaint involving two teenage suspects. The incident, which took place overnight between October 10 and 11, centers on allegations that a roughly four-foot-tall machine touched the buttocks of a 16-year-old girl and made inappropriate physical movements toward her.
Investigators are currently working to establish whether the machine was operating autonomously via preprogrammed instructions or if it was being manually piloted by the two male suspects, aged 16 and 19. According to reports from the Associated Press, the suspects allegedly livestreamed their interactions with the robot on the night of the incident, with video footage showing them navigating the machine through public spaces at night and making physical contact with passersby.
Emergency personnel eventually located the robot inside the trunk of a vehicle. Cologne police subsequently confiscated the device alongside the mobile phones belonging to the two teenagers involved. Local authorities acknowledged that the case represents entirely uncharted legal territory for investigators dealing with technology-facilitated harassment.
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