A male humanoid robot intended to showcase Saudi Arabia's technological prowess touched a female reporter inappropriately, causing outrage on social media.

QSS Systems' 'Mohammad' robot was seen stretching its right hand towards female reporter Rawya Kassem's bottom while she was talking to camera at the DeepFest show in Riyadh, prompting her to move away.

Some people accused the robot of deliberately harrassing the reporter and called it 'creepy' and a 'pervert'; others alleged that Kassem had unintentionally stood in the wrong place and it had moved its hands in a pre-programmed manner.

Others saw the incident as an unintentional reflection of Saudi Arabia's male-dominated society and engineering culture.