All of the “end of the world” doomsdayers that have been saying robots would take over the world are likely (and secretly) excited about this new report coming out of Tesla’s Texas factory. According to the New York Post, a Tesla software engineer was seriously injured when a robot on the production floor designed to cut car parts attacked.
Those that witnessed the horrific incident say that the large robot (usually tasked with cutting and moving aluminum parts) moved over towards the engineer, then pushed down towards the ground, pinning the worker on the floor.
Once the robot had the engineer pinned, the machine’s metal claws pierced into the back and arms of the worker, and reportedly left a trail of blood across the floor near the production line.
This apparently took place two years ago, with the public only finding out about the incident as of late. It is believed that the robot should have been turned off as the software engineer worked near it, but it was accidentally left on (while two other robots that the Tesla employee was working on were turned off).
Sources say that the employee who was injured by the robot attack suffered from a wound on their left hand as a result of the laceration-by-robot. The injury was reportedly not serious enough to cause any other employees to take leave (imagine that).
Obviously, a mistake like that is terrifying, and it sounds like it could have been easily prevented. However, the fact that there wasn’t a quicker fail safe, or a human avoidance system built into the technology is concerning. Heck, even the technology in Tesla cars sometimes has trouble recognizing what are humans and what aren’t.
But let’s face it, if we’re going to have all of these robots working alongside humans, we’re going to need a way to defend humans in case things go sideways. If only there was a Sci-Fi movie out there about a robot protecting humans from other robots that we could base our “robot defense system” off of…
Terminator 2 anyone?
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Industrial accidents/injuries have been occuring since industry began. Safety concerns have been better addresed in the last 60 years or so to the point that almost all accidents today are because someone did NOT follow proper safety protocols.
The computer controlled arm did not attack the man. He was clearly within a no go zone when the arm was active. It is like blaming a tractor trailer for hitting someone running across a busy expressway.