Fact-Check: Does This Video Show a Robot Waitress Serving at a Restaurant?
The video shows a human dancing like a robot at a restaurant in Chongqing, China.
Fact-Check: It is not a robot rather, a human who dances like a robot.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
A video showing a waitress behaving like a robot and serving customers at a restaurant is being shared on social media.
What are the users saying?: Users have claimed it shows a robot waitress.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)
But..?: It is not an actual robot. The video shows a human dancing and serving like a robot.
We found videos on the short-video hosting platform TikTok and news reports about the person in the video who serves customers by dancing like a robot at a restaurant in Chongqing city in China.
How did we find out?:
We noticed a TikTok username in the viral video.
Using a virtual private network (VPN), we looked for the username on TikTok in the viral video.
Here is a close-up of the username.
We came across two videos of the person in the viral video in which she breaks out of character.
In this video, the supposed robot waitress is serving a customer. She eventually breaks out of that character and bursts into a laugh with the customer.
In another video, she can be seen mopping the floor. However, she breaks out of the robotic flow and starts mopping aggressively.
With a relevant keyword search, we came across two news reports by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and Business Insider about a 'robot dancing' waitress at a restaurant in China.
SCMP reported that the name of the person in the video was Qin, who owned a hotpot restaurant in Chongqing, China.
Apart from this, Qin was also a professional street dancer. Using her dancing skills, she interacts and serves customers in a robotic feel at her restaurant.
Additionally, Business Insider also reported that it is not a robot but rather a human in the viral video.
Conclusion: It is clearly not a robot waitress serving customers in the viral video. Instead, a human who interacts and serves customers by doing a robotic-style dance at a hot pot restaurant in China.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)