Rise of the robots… In a strange incident reminiscent of a sci-fi movie, and causing a smile, but also… awe, a small robot from Hangzhou with artificial intelligence successfully “kidnapped” 12 larger robots from a showroom of a robotics company Shanghai.

The video shows the robot, named Erbai, “conversing” with the larger robots. He convinces them to leave their jobs and follow it outside the showroom.

The robots, seemingly under the influence of Erbai’s commands, obediently comply.

The… chat between bots:

“I never leave work,” one of the other robots replies. “So you’re not going home?” asks the little robot. “I don’t have a house.” “Then come home with me,” Erbai says, before leading the way out of the showroom. With the two large robots following Erbai, the other 10 meekly follow suit as the tiny “general” gives the order: “go home” (“let’s go home”).

The strange incident took place on August 26, but was only recently made public.

While many initially found the incident amusing, it later caused concern, especially when its authenticity was confirmed.