Robot incidents in 2013
The Machine Record holds 3 incidents involving commercial robots in 2013, most involving Intuitive Surgical: 2 where a person was hurt, 1 of them fatal, and 0 that reached a regulator, a recall or a court.
Counts measure what was reported in the press the register reads and cleared verification, not how many events took place. Fleet sizes are not public, so none of this is a rate. The rules are on the methodology page.
Reading the numbers
The 3 cases dated 2013 are spread over 3 months, with June 2013 the busiest at 1 and 9 months without a case. The newest case is dated 2013-12-04: A worker was crushed to death under a robotic arm.
Intuitive Surgical accounts for 1 of the 3 cases (33%); 2 cases name no company. By kind of machine, consumer robots make up 33% of the set, ahead of robot arms (1). Most cases are placed in Austria (1).
In 33% of the cases someone died. 2 cases (67%) record a person hurt, 1 of them fatal. The most common type of event is fatality (1). None of the cases has yet gone beyond the first report.
By company
By outcome
Every case dated 2013
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on.
- 2013-12-04A worker was crushed to death under a robotic arm.Report
- 2013-11-13A robot vacuum cleaner reactivated itself on a kitchen worktop in Austria, pushed a cooking pot aside, landed on a hot stove element, melted and caught fire, causing smoke damage that rendered the home uninhabitable.Report
- 2013-06-14Lawsuits allege that microscopic cracks in the insulating covers of the da Vinci Surgical System's Monopolar Curved Scissors allowed electrical current to leak and burn patients during minimally invasive surgeries at hospitals across the United States.Report
New cases, once a week, 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.