A Tesla software engineer was attacked by a robot at Tesla's Giga Texas factory in Austin when a third robot that had not been disabled pinned him and sank its metal claws into his back and arm, causing lacerations.
- Date of incident
- 2021
- Sources place this in the year, not in a month or on a day.
- Location
- Austin, Texas, USA
- Sources
- 13
Established by press reporting. No regulator or court document is linked to this case yet.
How the event developed
- 2023-11-21Report
A Tesla engineer at the Austin Gigafactory was clawed and pinned to a wall by a robot arm that had not fully shut down, suffering lacerations to his back and arms before falling into a chute.
theverge.com
Every claim above traces to one of these
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- theverge.comA Tesla engineer at the Austin Gigafactory was clawed and pinned to a wall by a robot arm that had not fully shut down, suffering lacerations to his back and arms before falling into a chute.2023-11-21copy 2026-10-14tier 2
- nypost.comA Tesla software engineer was attacked by a robot at Tesla's Giga Texas factory in Austin when a third robot that had not been disabled pinned him and sank its metal claws into his back and arm, causing lacerations.2023-12-26copy 2026-10-27tier 2
- oecd.aiA robot at Tesla's Texas factory attacked an engineer in 2021, pinning him and causing serious injuries to his back and arm during a maintenance operation in which the robot was inadvertently left active.2023-12-26copy 2026-10-13tier 2
- carscoops.comA Tesla engineer programming software for disabled car-making robots at Giga Texas was picked up by one of the robots, which grabbed him by the back and arm and cut his hand before he fell down a scrap aluminum chute.2023-12-27copy 2026-10-28tier 2
- news.sky.comA Tesla engineer was pinned against a wall by a robot's claws at Tesla's Giga Texas factory in 2021, sustaining lacerations to his back and arm and falling into a scrap metal chute while escaping.2023-12-27copy 2026-10-31tier 2
- unilad.comAn engineer at Tesla's Giga Texas factory was pinned and clawed by a malfunctioning robot while disabling programming for nearby robots, sustaining a laceration to his hand and leaving blood on the factory floor.2023-12-27copy 2026-10-21tier 2
- teslarati.comA Kuka robot arm at Tesla's Giga Texas factory injured an engineer in 2021, an incident that was reported by the Daily Mail in December 2023 with misleading imagery suggesting Tesla's Optimus robot was responsible.2023-12-28copy 2026-10-27tier 2
- wsoctv.comRobot arm injured an engineer at a Tesla plant, leaving a trail of blood2023-12-28copy 2026-10-12tier 2
- geo.tvA Tesla robot designed to grasp and move aluminium vehicle parts attacked an engineer at the Giga Texas factory in Austin, sinking its claws into the worker's back and arm and leaving an open wound on his left hand, as documented in a 2021 injury report.2023-12-28copy 2026-10-23tier 2
- dailymail.comA Tesla robot violently malfunctioned at the company's Texas factory, attacking an engineer and leaving a trail of blood, forcing workers to hit an emergency shutdown button.2023-12-28copy 2026-10-23tier 2
- indiatoday.inA Kuka robot arm at Tesla's Giga Texas factory pinned an engineer against a surface with its claws, causing bleeding from the engineer's back and arm, after the engineer began working on three robots while one remained powered on.2023-12-28copy 2026-10-30tier 2
- greenmatters.comA KUKA robotic arm at Tesla's Giga Texas factory pinned an engineer against a wall with its claw, drawing blood from his back and arm, and he fell down a scrap metal chute after breaking free.2023-12-28copy 2026-10-28tier 2
- newsnationnow.comElon Musk publicly criticizes media coverage of a reported Tesla robot injury incident2023-12-28copy 2026-10-27tier 2
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