Dancing robot delays Oakland–San Diego flight after Southwest confiscates its oversized batteries

A Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to San Diego turned into an unexpected comedy show Thursday after a dancing humanoid robot named Bebop caused a delay, confused airline staff, and sparked a lithium battery standoff that grounded the trip before it even got rolling.

The flight eventually landed at San Diego International Airport about an hour late, according to FlightAware, but passengers arguably got more entertainment than inconvenience when Bebop showed up in the mix.

Bebop is a child-sized humanoid robot owned by Elite Event Robotics, a company that rents out entertainment tech for events.

The machine can dance and serve drinks, which already sounds like something airlines were not emotionally prepared to handle at 30,000 feet.

After completing an event in the Bay Area, Bebop needed to travel to Southern California. 

Things started getting weird early.

The robot’s carrying case was too heavy to check in, so an employee made a bold decision and bought Bebop its own airline seat.

Yes, a robot got a boarding pass.

Once onboard, Southwest crew members were suddenly faced with a very serious question.

Is this a passenger? Is this luggage? Is this a very expensive dance partner who does not buckle its own seatbelt?

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At one point, Bebop was even moved from the aisle to a window seat while staff tried to figure it out.

Then came the real troublemaker: the battery.

Southwest Airlines said, “The device’s lithium battery exceeded the maximum allowable size, so the customer was asked to remove it,” which instantly turned the situation from quirky to full regulatory headache.

Because lithium batteries are restricted on planes due to fire risk concerns from the Transportation Security Administration, the robot had to be partially dealt with before the flight could continue.

Meanwhile, at the gate, Bebop was spotted dancing in a video posted on Instagram by Elite Event Robotics, almost as if it was celebrating the chaos it was causing.

After the battery was removed and the situation sorted out, the flight finally departed.

“I put on a good show @iflyoak until I got my batteries confiscated @southwestair,” the Elite Event Robotics Instagram account wrote in the caption of a picture of Bebop looking out the airplane window while powered down. “I’ll be back!”