Did a robot really just save a little girl’s life - despite not being programmed to?

Perhaps robots aren’t soulless metal lumps after all – after a video captured the moment a robot rushes forward to save a little girl from being crushed under a falling shelf.

The makers of Promobot claim that the robot entered ‘mirror mode’ automatically – and saved her life by mimicking a human action.

But it’s probably worth taking this one with a pinch of salt – as Promobot previously made headlines by ‘escaping’ his lab, and many people think that the story was basically made up.

This video of the incredible droid was captured on camera in the lobby of the Perm Polytechnic University in the central Russian city of Perm, in the Perm Krai region.

It seems to show Promobot lifting a hand to stop the shelves from falling on top of the little girl before she skips off happily.

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Oleg Kivokurtsev, manager of robotics company ‘Promobot’ said: ‘We were preparing to the graduation ceremony which should have been opened by our robot.

‘We planned he would congratulate the graduate students and remind them that future is for robots.”

He claims that the robot’s move to save the girl was a ‘pure coincidence” as it is equipped with a ‘mirror mode’ which enables it to emulate human action.

The mode apparently turned on and caused the robot to raise its arm and approach the girl in the nick of time.

Although Mr Kivokurtsev added: ‘The little girl was playing around and pulled the metal shelf, the robot prevented her from getting hurt. The robot is not programmed that way.”

The girl was not identified.