Robot incidents in 2018
The Machine Record holds 3 incidents involving commercial robots in 2018, most involving Amazon: 2 where a person was hurt, and 0 that reached a regulator, a recall or a court.
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. The rules are on the methodology page.
By kind of machine
- Delivery1
- Robot arm1
- Warehouse AMR1
By company
- Amazon1
- Kiwibot1
By outcome
- serious injury2
- property damage1
Cases
Every case dated 2018
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on.
- 2018-12-14A KiwiBot delivery robot caught fire at UC Berkeley on December 14, 2018, and was extinguished by a passerby and subsequently by the Berkeley Fire Department.Follow-up
- 2018-12-13A 49-year-old factory worker in China was impaled by ten steel spikes when a robot malfunctioned and collapsed onto him, injuring his arm and chest; surgeons removed all spikes and he was left in stable condition.Report
- 2018-12-06Amazon warehouse robot accidentally punctured a can of bear repellent, hospitalizing multiple workersFollow-up