Overview
- A Southwest flight from Oakland to San Diego left about an hour late after staff removed and confiscated the robot’s oversize lithium battery.
- The airline first flagged the humanoid’s aisle seat as a large carry-on violation and moved it to a window seat under standard cabin rules.
- Southwest said the battery exceeded its size limit, and the operator continued to San Diego with the robot powered off.
- Elite Event Robotics said it shipped replacement batteries to Chicago so the robot could work at Digestive Disease Week at McCormick Place, where it was hired to draw eyes to Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group’s booth.
- The company said it will keep flying its robots commercially without batteries installed to avoid future conflicts with airline policies.