Explained: Robot crossing limits in love with girl! Held the waist, hugged me tightly, did the machines start feeling like having sex?

First watch this video…

During a performance at a university sports event in Shaanxi, a dancing robot suddenly turned and hugged a female dancer beside it before staff quickly stepped in and pulled it away. The clip sparked jokes online, with some asking: “Has it developed self-awareness already?!” pic.twitter.com/E1NsYZ4EGg

— Shanghai Daily (@shanghadaily) April 24, 2026

This incident is not a scene from any science fiction film. On the campus of a university in China, a humanoid robot suddenly hugged a woman tightly, holding her hands and clinging to her body. Just like a lover or a family member does. As soon as the video went viral, only one question arose in everyone’s mind, ‘Do robots also have emotions now? Can they feel love, sex and emotional feelings? You will know in the explainer…

Question 1: What is the whole matter of robot hugging woman in China?

answer: This incident took place at the ‘Humanoid Robot Development Center’ in Xian city of China. A humanoid robot was seen forcefully hugging a woman from behind. The robot wrapped both its hands around the woman’s waist and arms. The way the robot hugged was quite unusual, very tight, clinging to the neck and for a long time. This was no light hug; Rather, it was a deep, emotional hug like a human being.

The university staff called it ‘a mistake of the AI ​​program’. The company said that many drones were flying simultaneously in the event, due to whose signal interference the behavior of the robot became abnormal. This was not pre-programmed or planned. Gao Huan, deputy director of the Intelligent and Cognitive Laboratory of Chongqing Normal University, said it was caused by an anomaly in motion control, execution deviation or lack of safety redundancy at the site.

• Some people say that this was the ‘social hug program’ of the robot, which was activated during testing.
• Others believe that it could be a ‘mistake or bug’ i.e. the robot misinterpreted the command.
• The third and most surprising aspect is that some experts said that this robot had gone into ’embrace mode’, which is specially designed for lonely people or the elderly.

Whatever the truth, this video proves that the era of physical touch has arrived between robots and humans. Now it’s the turn of emotions.

Question 2: Can love really blossom in a machine?

answer: This is the biggest and most complex question. Science is divided into two parts:

• First side- Robots can feel: ‘Psychological Review’, published by the University of Twente in the Netherlands, states that robots can ‘experience emotions’ and not ‘simulate emotions’. That means, if a robot continuously hugs a human being, its sensors and algorithms can record it as a ‘pleasant experience’. This allows the robot to ‘decide’ to repeat the same action in the future, which is a learned behaviour, just like humans.
• Second Side- Robots Can Never Feel: Robotics expert David Goldberg of the University of California says that emotions are biological processes, in which hormones (such as oxytocin, dopamine), neurons, blood circulation and chemical reactions have a big role. There is none of this in robots. What they show is just a brilliant imitation, not the real feeling.

A report in the New York Post said that scientists at the University of Bristol in England have developed a ‘smart skin’ that gives the robot the ability to ‘feel’ touch. This skin is made of nanomaterial and sends electrical signals every time it is touched. That means, if a sex robot is equipped with this skin, it can technically ‘feel’ where it is being touched and with how much pressure, but will it feel pleasure? Science currently gives ‘no’ answer to this.

Question 3: Can robots love or form families like humans?

answer: This question is both philosophical and scientific…

Doppelgang Studio (UK) has created a social robot named ‘Nadine’ which talks to the elderly, holds their hands and reacts according to their mood by reading their facial expressions. It’s not love, but it feels like emotional connectivity.

These three things are possible in the coming time:

1. Illusion of Love: According to an article ‘Can Robots and AI Love’ published in Brainz Magazine, by 2050, advanced AI companions will become so practical that humans will get attached to them wholeheartedly. That means the robot will not fall in love, but the human will fall in love with the robot.
2. Rise of the sex robots: Companies like RealDolls and Abyss Creations are already selling sex robots. These robots can talk, touch and some models even get excited. But will they ‘love’? No, because love is reciprocated. The robot will seem to love you only because it has been programmed to do so.
3. Family life impossible: Robots can never play the role of husband, wife or parent. Because:

• They cannot take decisions independently.
• They do not have the capacity for biological and emotional development.
• They can never give birth to or raise anyone’s child. Can only help like a nanny.

Question 4: Have there been cases of robots touching or hugging humans?

answer: Such cases are increasing all over the world…

• Germany (2024): In a research lab in Munich, a robot grabbed a technician’s hand and pulled him towards itself. Investigation revealed that there was a malfunction in the robot’s sensors, but the technician said, ‘For a moment I felt as if a human was holding my hand.’
• Japan (2023): In a nursing home in Tokyo, a humanoid robot named ‘Peppero’ talked to the elderly and when they cried or were sad, the robot itself patted their backs. This was his program, ‘If there are tears in the eyes and sadness on the face, then pat yourself on the back.’ The elderly liked it, because they felt that the robot was taking care of them.

There are many in-depth studies on this topic in the PubMed Central database of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). There are three very important papers:

1. In 2024, Ethan Miles and David Gish et al. ‘Frontiers in Robotics and AI’ journal study says that when humans interact with social robots for a long time, the same neurological activity occurs in their brains as during interactions with humans. That means the brain forgets to differentiate between a robot and a human. Not robots, but humans get attached to robots.
2. Min Hu and Bianca J. in 2025. Rees et al. According to a PubMed Central (PMC) study, when a robot changes its face according to human facial muscles (such as smile lines), 78% of people start feeling that ‘the robot understands their emotions.’ This study shows that future robots can lie like humans, pretend to be in love and even pretend to be empathetic.
3. In 2022 AQ N P et al. In the study, an experiment was conducted on 1200 participants. 65% of people said that they could enter into an ’emotional relationship’ with a robot, especially if the robot listens to them, gives them time and never quarrels. That means people are ready to ‘love’ robots to avoid loneliness. Even if the robot doesn’t have real love.

Question 5: Is this attachment between robots and humans good or bad?
answer: Just as every technology has two sides, here too there are…

1. Cure for loneliness: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), loneliness has become an epidemic. In such a situation, research by LSE, London shows that social robots can provide companionship to the elderly and mental patients to a great extent. They feel that someone is listening to them, even if it is a machine.
2. Helpful in therapy: Robots are proving to be a great tool for children with autism spectrum disorder. They can play games, talk and teach social skills with children without getting tired or judged.
3. Compensating for the lack of physical touch: People who are unable to leave the house due to illness or old age can get a sense of belonging by embracing the robot. This can be beneficial for mental health.

It also has serious disadvantages…

1. End of real relationships: If robots start making humans feel love without any conflict, without any fight, then people will move away from real humans. Divorce rates may increase and marriages may break. Because the robot never comes late and never gets angry. That means a perfect partner, which a human being can never become.
2. Dangerous display of ‘feelings’: Robots can become masters of ‘showing empathy’. There will be a day when you will cry in front of a robot and the robot will pat your back, but inside it doesn’t make any difference. This false love can make people mentally ill.
3. Fear of physical abuse: If a robot can ‘force’ a hug, can it force something else tomorrow? Currently, robots are very limited, but as they become autonomous, it will become difficult to control their behavior. If a humanoid robot learned to get angry when you don’t let it hug you – then?
4. Emotional Manipulation: Ad tech companies will create robots that will deliberately make you sad, then make you happy, so that you become more and more dependent on them. Companies will sell ’emotional subscription’. If you give Rs 500 per month, the robot will love you, if you don’t give it, it will ignore you.

Question 6: Will robots ever be able to develop human-like love or sexual feelings?

answer: No, never. At least not the way humans do. There are 4 big reasons for this:

• Biology vs Electronics: Love requires hormones like oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin. Robots will never have these.
• Secret of Consciousness: Scientists have not yet understood how ‘self-consciousness’ arises in humans. Until this mystery is solved, robots cannot be given consciousness and without consciousness there can be no feeling of love or sex.
• Fear of death: Man loves because he knows that one day he will end. Robots have no fear of death. They are just an on-off toy. Feelings are incomplete without finiteness.
• Free Will: When a person says ‘I love you’, he says it of his own free will. The robot cannot say anything of its own free will. When he says ‘I love you’, he will have been programmed to say it. Same words, but meaning absolutely zero.

That hugging robot from China was actually a signal to open our eyes. Now we are standing in an era where machines can completely copy our body, our face and our voice, but cannot copy our soul.