Accounts differ on the timing: the police statement places the incident shortly before midnight, while some outlets say it happened on Sunday night. The girl was with two friends, aged 17 and 18, when the robot approached from behind. One of the men later claimed on TikTok that the robot accidentally collided with a woman while avoiding another passerby. That account is disputed by longer videos circulating online, which appear to show sexually suggestive movements after the contact with the girl. Police found the robot in the trunk of a Volkswagen near the scene, and the 16-year-old had placed it there. Investigators are still checking whether the movements were preprogrammed or driven by a person in real time, and they are analyzing surveillance video and online recordings to reconstruct the sequence of events. Details of the forensic findings have not been made public.
The robot is a commercially available humanoid model that costs about 5,000 euros, or roughly $5,600. It stands about 120 cm tall and was wearing a white tank top, sweatpants, a gold chain, sunglasses, and a fake mustache. The case raises a question police say they have not faced before: whether a robot can be used as a tool for sexual harassment, and who is responsible if a person is operating it remotely. Attorneys should watch for forensic findings on the robot's control data, which will determine whether a human was driving the conduct. Because the livestreams and viral clips are central evidence, the case also points to how social media recordings can shape criminal investigations and public accounts of an incident.