Robot incidents in 2023
The Machine Record holds 18 incidents involving commercial robots in 2023, most involving Cruise: 8 where a person was hurt, 2 of them fatal, and 7 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 18 cases dated 2023 are spread over 10 months, with August 2023 the busiest at 4 and 2 months without a case. The newest case is dated 2023-12-22: Robotic vacuum cleaner: Mini vacuum sweeper.
Cruise accounts for 6 of the 18 cases (33%), followed by Starship Technologies with 2; 5 cases name no company. By kind of machine, autonomous vehicles make up 39% of the set, ahead of consumer robots (4). Most cases are placed in the United States (10), with 3 other countries represented.
In 33% of the cases no one was hurt. 8 cases (44%) record a person hurt, 2 of them fatal. The most common type of event is collision (6). 7 cases (39%) went beyond the first report to an investigation, a regulator, a recall, a fine or a court.
By kind of machine
By company
By outcome
Every case dated 2023
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on.
- 2023-12-22Robotic vacuum cleaner: Mini vacuum sweeperRecall
- 2023-12-11Two unoccupied Waymo robotaxis separately collided with the same improperly towed pickup truck in Phoenix, Arizona on December 11, 2023, resulting in minor damage and no injuries, prompting Waymo's first-ever software recall.Report
- 2023-11-07A robotics company employee in his 40s was crushed to death by a robotic arm at a pepper sorting plant in South Gyeongsang province, South Korea, after the arm confused him for a box of vegetables and pushed him against a conveyor belt.Follow-up
- 2023-10-31A Robotic E-GYM Leg Press machine at a Montgomery, Alabama YMCA malfunctioned on October 31, 2023, allegedly forcefully compressing a user's knees into her chest and causing sacroiliac joint dysfunction, piriformis syndrome, and sciatic nerve involvement.Lawsuit
- 2023-10-02A Cruise robotaxi ran over a pedestrian who had been pushed into its path by a hit-and-run vehicle and pinned the person beneath its tire in San Francisco, leading to California regulators revoking Cruise's robotaxi permits.Criminal charge
- 2023-09-19A Starship delivery robot at Arizona State University abruptly changed direction, knocked over a university employee, and then reversed toward the victim while she was still on the ground, injuring her.Lawsuit
- 2023-09-16Co-op delivery robots in Cambridge became confused by fire hoses and fire engines blocking the road during a derelict building fire and had to be carried over the obstructions by Cambridgeshire firefighters.Report
- 2023-09-15Asensus Surgical issued a customer alert on September 15, 2023, warning that the Senhance surgical robot's laparoscope instrument actuator could rotate continuously after disconnection from its remote control, posing a risk of tissue trauma, though no patient harm occurred, and the FDA classified it as a Class I recall.Report
- 2023-08-24Aiper Elite Pro Cordless Robotic Pool Vacuum Cleaners Recalled Due to Burn and Fire Hazards; Distributed by Shenzhen Aiper Intelligent Co. (Recall Alert)Recall
- 2023-08-17A Cruise self-driving robotaxi was struck by a San Francisco Fire Department truck en route to an emergency at the intersection of Polk and Turk Streets in the Tenderloin district, resulting in one passenger being transported to a hospital with non-severe injuries.Regulator action
- 2023-08-14Two Cruise autonomous vehicles stopped in traffic lanes on August 14, 2023 in San Francisco, allegedly delaying an ambulance transporting a pedestrian with life-threatening injuries who later died at the hospital, though Cruise disputes that its vehicles impeded the ambulance.Report
- 2023-08-07A driverless Cruise autonomous vehicle was struck by a semi-truck performing a left turn from the right lane near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, sustaining damage to its passenger-side mirror, a camera, and a tire, with no passengers in the vehicle and no injuries reported.Report
- 2023-07-20A worker at Highline Mushrooms' Kingsville plant was critically injured after becoming entangled in netting on a net washer machine's rotating bar, resulting in a $143,750 fine against Highline Produce Limited.Report
- 2023-06-15An unmanned Cruise autonomous vehicle struck a woman's off-leash Labrador in a crosswalk at Clay and Baker streets in San Francisco; the dog was reported uninjured.Report
- 2023-05-12A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Ecovacs Deebot robot vacuums contain a defective motor built from substandard materials that causes the devices to fail prematurely and become wholly inoperable.Report
- 2023-04-18An FDNY Boston Dynamics Spot robodog fell over onto its side while surveying the rubble of a collapsed parking garage in Manhattan, though it later recovered and helped locate the remains of a worker who died in the collapse.Report
- 2023-04-09A robotic vacuum cleaner docked in its charging station caused a fire in a bungalow in Holland-on-Sea, Essex, resulting in two residents being treated for smoke inhalation and the lounge being severely damaged.Report
- 2023-03-24A driverless Cruise robotaxi with no passengers rear-ended a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Muni bus, causing modest damage to the bus and more severe damage to the robotaxi's front bumper, with no injuries reported.Recall
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.