Service robot incidents
The Machine Record lists 10 verified incidents involving service robots in hotels, restaurants and hospitals since 2016: 1 where a person was hurt, 0 that reached a regulator, recall, fine, lawsuit or settlement. Counted on 2026-10-03; every case links to its sources.
- Cases
- 10
- Someone hurt
- 1
- Fatal
- 0
- Escalated
- 0
- Period
- 2016-07 to 2026-08
By year
- 2016████ 1
- 2017 0
- 2018 0
- 2019████ 1
- 2020 0
- 2021████ 1
- 2022 0
- 2023████ 1
- 2024████████████ 3
- 2025 0
- 2026████████████ 3
By outcome
- property damage7
- no harm2
- minor injury1
By type of event
- malfunction6
- collision2
- other1
- fire1
By company
Counts measure what was reported in English and cleared verification, not how many events took place. Fleet sizes are not public, so none of this is a rate. Rules are on the methodology page; the numbers are CC BY 4.0, cite this page. CSV, JSON and an API are on the data page.
Cases
The 10 cases behind the number
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on.
- 2026-08-02A patrolling robot was damaged after falling down a staircase at Hong Kong airport.Report
- 2026-03-17A service robot at what social media users claimed was a Haidilao hotpot restaurant in China malfunctioned, knocking plates off a counter and swinging its arms erratically while a staff member attempted to restrain it.Follow-up
- 2026-02-18Chinese robot dog malfunctioned or glitched during India's AI summitReport
- 2024-09-14A Boston Dynamics robot dog fell down a flight of stairs and broke during a demonstration at Jaguar Land Rover's battery testing facility in Coventry.Report
- 2024-07-05A Bear Robotics administrative robot employed by Gumi City Council fell down a flight of stairs between the first and second floors of the council building, destroying itself.Report
- 2024-06-08A cleaning robot caught fire while charging in Ward 76 of Singapore General Hospital, activating the sprinkler system and prompting evacuation of patients, with no injuries reported.Follow-up
- 2023-04-18An FDNY Boston Dynamics Spot robodog fell over onto its side while surveying the rubble of a collapsed parking garage in Manhattan, though it later recovered and helped locate the remains of a worker who died in the collapse.Report
- 2021-02-24During the 'Spot's Rampage' interactive art exhibit in a Brooklyn studio, a Boston Dynamics Spot robot equipped with a paintball gun malfunctioned and collapsed on its side approximately one hour after users began remotely controlling it to destroy artwork inside the space.Report
- 2019-01-06A self-driving Tesla Model S struck and destroyed a Promobot v4 autonomous service robot in a parking lot street at 3000 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, while the robot was being transported to the Consumer Electronics Show venue.Report
- 2016-07-14A Knightscope K5 security robot ran over a 16-month-old toddler at a shopping centre in Silicon Valley, leaving him with swelling to his right foot.Report
Questions
What people ask about these numbers
- How many incidents involving service robots in hotels, restaurants and hospitals are on record?
- The Machine Record lists 10 verified incidents involving service robots in hotels, restaurants and hospitals since 2016: 1 where a person was hurt, 0 that reached a regulator, recall, fine, lawsuit or settlement. Counted on 2026-10-03; every case links to its sources.
- What counts as an incident here?
- A case enters the register only when two independent published sources or one regulator record (NHTSA, CPSC, OSHA, EU Safety Gate) describe the same event with a date and an outcome. Demonstrations that went wrong, recalls, investigations, injuries and deaths all count; marketing and speculation do not.
- Is this every incident that happened?
- No. It is every incident reported in English that cleared verification. Fleet sizes are not public, so none of these numbers is a rate, and a company with more cases is often a company with more vehicles on the road and more press coverage.
- Can I reuse these numbers?
- Yes. Case metadata is CC BY 4.0: cite The Machine Record with a link. CSV and JSON exports and an API are on the data page.
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