Commercial robot incidents, January 2025
3 commercial robot incidents dated January 2025 so far (provisional, verification backlog), 3 with a person hurt and 2 fatal. 0 cases were added to the register during the month. Most involved Globus Medical (1). Largest class: autonomous vehicles (1).
Provisional. 16 reports published in or just after this month are still in the verification queue, so the count will rise as they clear. A lower figure here means a slower queue, not fewer incidents.
Incidents are counted by the date they happened, 2025-01-01 to 2025-01-31. 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: December 2024. Quarterly view: the quarterly record.
By kind of machine
- Autonomous vehicles1
- Consumer robots1
- Surgical robots1
By company
- Globus Medical1
- Pet Pivot1
- Waymo1
By outcome
- fatality2
- serious injury1
The cases that reached furthest
Ordered by severity, then by how many independent sources the case rests on.
- 2025-01-19An unoccupied Waymo robotaxi stopped at a traffic light was rear-ended in a multi-vehicle collision at Sixth and Harrison Streets in San Francisco, killing one person and injuring seven others.Report
- 2025-01-27A cat named Sarabi was fatally crushed by an Autoscooper 11 self-cleaning litter box in a Bronx apartment on January 27, 2025, when the device's safety mechanism failed to stop when the animal was inside.Report
- 2025-01-16Globus Medical Excelsius GPS surgical robot allegedly malfunctioned during spinal surgery on January 16, 2025, causing misplaced pedicle screws and persistent neurological deficits in the patient, according to a federal lawsuit filed December 5, 2025.Lawsuit
All 3 incidents dated January 2025
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.
- 2025-01-27A cat named Sarabi was fatally crushed by an Autoscooper 11 self-cleaning litter box in a Bronx apartment on January 27, 2025, when the device's safety mechanism failed to stop when the animal was inside.Report
- 2025-01-19An unoccupied Waymo robotaxi stopped at a traffic light was rear-ended in a multi-vehicle collision at Sixth and Harrison Streets in San Francisco, killing one person and injuring seven others.Report
- 2025-01-16Globus Medical Excelsius GPS surgical robot allegedly malfunctioned during spinal surgery on January 16, 2025, causing misplaced pedicle screws and persistent neurological deficits in the patient, according to a federal lawsuit filed December 5, 2025.Lawsuit
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.