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 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 2018 are spread over 1 month and 11 months without a case. The newest case is dated 2018-12-14: A 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.
Amazon accounts for 1 of the 3 cases (33%), followed by Kiwibot with 1; 1 case names no company. By kind of machine, delivery robots make up 33% of the set, ahead of robot arms (1). Most cases are placed in China (1), with 1 other country represented.
In 67% of the cases someone was seriously hurt. 2 cases (67%) record a person hurt. The most common type of event is malfunction (2). None of the cases has yet gone beyond the first report.
By kind of machine
By outcome
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
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.