Commercial robot incidents, September 2023
3 commercial robot incidents dated September 2023, down 25% on the month before, 1 with a person hurt and 0 fatal. 0 cases were added to the register during the month. Most involved Starship Technologies (2). Largest class: delivery (2).
Incidents are counted by the date they happened, 2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30. Counts measure what was reported in the press the register reads and cleared verification; fleet sizes are not public, so nothing here is a rate. The register holds 255 cases in all. Rules on the methodology page. Previous month: August 2023. Quarterly view: the quarterly record.
By kind of machine
- delivery2
- Surgical robots1
By company
- Starship Technologies2
- Asensus Surgical1
By outcome
- no harm2
- minor injury1
The cases that reached furthest
Ordered by severity, then by how many independent sources the case rests on.
- 2023-09-19A Starship delivery robot at Arizona State University abruptly changed direction, knocked over a university employee, and then reversed toward the victim while she was still on the ground, injuring her.Lawsuit
- 2023-09-16Co-op delivery robots in Cambridge became confused by fire hoses and fire engines blocking the road during a derelict building fire and had to be carried over the obstructions by Cambridgeshire firefighters.Report
- 2023-09-15Asensus Surgical issued a customer alert on September 15, 2023, warning that the Senhance surgical robot's laparoscope instrument actuator could rotate continuously after disconnection from its remote control, posing a risk of tissue trauma, though no patient harm occurred, and the FDA classified it as a Class I recall.Report
All 3 incidents dated September 2023
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on. Case metadata is CC BY 4.0; cite the register by its DOI, 10.5281/zenodo.22925531.
- 2023-09-19A Starship delivery robot at Arizona State University abruptly changed direction, knocked over a university employee, and then reversed toward the victim while she was still on the ground, injuring her.Lawsuit
- 2023-09-16Co-op delivery robots in Cambridge became confused by fire hoses and fire engines blocking the road during a derelict building fire and had to be carried over the obstructions by Cambridgeshire firefighters.Report
- 2023-09-15Asensus Surgical issued a customer alert on September 15, 2023, warning that the Senhance surgical robot's laparoscope instrument actuator could rotate continuously after disconnection from its remote control, posing a risk of tissue trauma, though no patient harm occurred, and the FDA classified it as a Class I recall.Report
The next roundup, and every case before it, by email
Every case added to the register in the last seven days, with its sources. Free, no account, and the register is the only sender.