Pho real? San Jose restaurant employees wrestle with attempted 'robot server kidnapper'

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SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Employees at Pho 21 restaurant in South San Jose had an unexpected showdown last weekend with what could be considered an attempted "robot kidnapper."

Surveillance footage from the restaurant captured the bizarre incident at around 7:40 a.m. last Saturday. A man entered the restaurant, asked to use the restroom and then emerged with a much stranger plan. He can be seen on surveillance talking with an employee and then, instead of leaving the shop, grabbing one of the restaurant's three robot servers and trying to haul it out the front door toward his car, which was parked right outside. The man appears to struggle slightly, at the weight of the device.

The scene turned chaotic as employees scrambled to intervene, yelling and struggling to wrestle the robot back. Eventually, they get the man to release the robot before calling the police.

According to the restaurant's owner, the robot is valued at approximately $18,000 but would have been worthless to the would-be thief. Owner of Pho 21, Tony Ngo says the device requires specialized programming to function, making it unusable outside of the restaurant.

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