India, Aug. 4 -- A humanoid robot called KOID, developed by Chinese robotics company Unitree and powered by Stanford's OpenMind software, freaked out New Yorkers as it casually strolled down Fifth Avenue, doing human things like waving, entering a Rolex store and trying out a watch with an uncanny, near-human-like ease.

In another episode of the sci-fi future becoming eerily real in plain sight, this $100,000 drew gasps and turned heads from the otherwise unshakable, unbothered New Yorkers. This viral attention was a marketing stunt by KraneShares to promote its Global Humanoid and Embodied Intelligence Index ETF.

The US partner of Unitree Robotics, Robostore, shared clips of the robot's day out on their Instagram. In a fascinating mome...