“Jake” is roughly child-sized and human-shaped, but it’s not your average Austinite.
AUSTIN, Texas — A mysterious buckaroo has been making his way down the streets of Austin.
The figure wears sneakers and a cowboy hat and seems generally friendly.
At least, for a robot.
Videos started popping up online of “Jake,” a roughly child-sized, human-shaped robot, early last month. Occasionally, the bot is seen sporting the message “in training” across its chest, though what it’s training for isn’t clear.
In a video posted on TikTok in early June, the robot can be seen shaking a man’s hand on South Congress Avenue.
In this Instagram Reel, it slowly makes it across that popular street.
Later in the month, “Jake” was spotted trotting down Barton Springs Road.
Then the robot was caught hanging out in The Domain, interacting with people on the sidewalk.
But where did it come from?
The origins of “Jake” the robot
According to KVUE’s media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, the robot is a G1 model created by China-based Unitree Robotics.
Unitree unveiled the G1 model last May. The price tag for the humanoid robots? Over $16,000.
The Statesman reports that Jake is operated by an unseen human handler via wireless controller, though who the robot belongs to remains a mystery.
It’s also unclear why its artificial intelligence has been specifically trained to interact with Austinites.
Whether you believe Jake is a digital desperado or a kindly computer cowpoke, we’ll just have to wait and find out his true purpose.