Overview
- Harold, a humanoid research robot from the University of Huddersfield, opened ITV's This Morning on February 27 and greeted viewers on-air.
- The robot performed a dance with presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary before a later studio demonstration.
- During the demo Harold struggled to move and fell, then was restarted and returned to complete further movements, including a martial arts routine.
- Professor John Murray told the hosts the robot was fine and attributed the issue to a controller error, highlighting its role as a research platform.
- Murray described goals for home assistance in a university smart house lab and said similar robots could reach domestic use in roughly 10–15 years, as viewers on social media reacted with a mix of fascination and unease.