Warehouse robot incidents
The Machine Record lists 3 verified incidents involving warehouse and logistics robots since 2018: 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
- 3
- Someone hurt
- 1
- Fatal
- 0
- Escalated
- 0
- Period
- 2018-12 to 2022-03
By year
- 2018████████████ 1
- 2019 0
- 2020 0
- 2021████████████ 1
- 2022████████████ 1
By outcome
- no harm1
- property damage1
- serious injury1
By type of event
- other1
- fire1
- malfunction1
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 3 cases behind the number
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on.
- 2022-03-08A man claiming to be an Amazon warehouse employee posted a viral TikTok video showing himself temporarily trapped in an aisle by automatically moving robotic shelving units, taking approximately 15 minutes to find a way out with no reported injury.Report
- 2021-07-20Three warehouse robots collided on top of an automated grid system at Ocado's Erith facility, causing a fire that damaged part of the grid and forced thousands of order cancellations.Report
- 2018-12-06Amazon warehouse robot accidentally punctured a can of bear repellent, hospitalizing multiple workersFollow-up
Questions
What people ask about these numbers
- How many incidents involving warehouse and logistics robots are on record?
- The Machine Record lists 3 verified incidents involving warehouse and logistics robots since 2018: 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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