California pho restaurant workers stop would-be thief from kidnapping $18K robot co-worker

Pho-ck that!

Employees at a California pho restaurant stopped a would-be thief from kidnapping their $18,000 robot coworker last Saturday as the man awkwardly struggled to load the mechanical server into his car.

Security footage inside Pho 21 in South San Jose captured the moment the attempted thief entered the restaurant around 7:40 a.m., just 20 minutes before it was set to open.

The man asked to use the bathroom and disappeared around the corner, according to the clip.

He then double-backed from the bathroom and tried to pick up one of the restaurant’s three robot servers. He wrapped his arms around its middle as if he were attempting to suplex it before hauling it outside, practically waddling as he struggled under the pressure of the robot, the footage shows.

One of the onlooking employees tried to stop him as he awkwardly carried the bot out the door.

Once outside, the man dragged the robot on the sidewalk and heaved it into the back of his car. He had the robot stashed in his trunk for all of 10 seconds before other employees emerged and wrestled the helpful robot away, according to the video.

They eventually made the man surrender the robot and called the police.

The robot server is valued at approximately $18,000 but would have been worthless to the would-be thief, Pho 21 owner Tony Ngo told ABC 7 News. The bot requires specialized programming — making it unusable outside of the restaurant.

No humans or robots were reported injured, according to the local outlet.

The little robot that could is back to serving up pho to its hardwiring’s content.

Robots are rapidly advancing and seem to be cropping up across industries with no telling what they could be capable of just a few years down the line.

On one end, researchers are working towards making functioning AI robots that can emote and ultimately be used as a significant other.

Meanwhile, China’s newest humanoid robot is pushing the boundaries in the mechanical service world as their new 5’5” bipedal machine provides a glimpse into what the future of warehouse and factory work might look like.