Robot incidents in 2016
The Machine Record holds 5 incidents involving commercial robots in 2016, most involving Ajin USA (Joon LLC): 4 where a person was hurt, 2 of them fatal, and 2 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 5 cases dated 2016 are spread over 4 months, with July 2016 the busiest at 2 and 8 months without a case. The newest case is dated 2016-08-15: A Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner ran over dog feces and spread the mess across every surface throughout a home in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Ajin USA (Joon LLC) accounts for 1 of the 5 cases (20%), followed by Intuitive Surgical with 1; 1 case names no company. By kind of machine, consumer robots make up 20% of the set, ahead of other machines (1). Most cases are placed in the United States (4).
In 40% of the cases someone died. 4 cases (80%) record a person hurt, 2 of them fatal. The most common type of event is fatality (2). 2 cases (40%) went beyond the first report to an investigation, a regulator, a recall, a fine or a court.
By company
By outcome
Every case dated 2016
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on.
- 2016-08-15A Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner ran over dog feces and spread the mess across every surface throughout a home in Little Rock, Arkansas.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
- 2016-07-07Dallas PD used a robot to kill a suspect after negotiations failed during a standoff.Report
- 2016-06-18A 20-year-old worker was killed when a robot at the Ajin USA plant in Cusseta, Alabama restarted abruptly while she was inside a robotic station clearing a sensor fault on a stopped assembly line.Criminal charge
- 2016-04-22$30M surgical robot defect trial settles during jury deliberationsSettlement
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.