Recently, the British "Daily Mail** reported a shocking incident: an engineer was violently attacked by a robot at a Tesla Motors factory near Austin, the capital of Texas, USA, which once again raised concerns about the potential risks of automated robots in the workplace.
According to eyewitness accounts, the engineer was writing software programs for two malfunctioning Tesla robots, however, the robots suddenly lost control, stretched their metal claws into the engineer's back and arms, and pressed them hard against the factory floor, leaving a shocking "blood stain". As a result, the victim's left hand suffered an "open wound" and was in serious condition.
Tesla disclosed the incident in its 2021 Workplace Injury Report filed with Travis County and federal regulators. However, it is shocking that Tesla did not report any other cases of robot-related injuries to regulators in 2021 and 2022. Does this mean that Tesla was negligent when it came to robot safety?
With the rapid development and widespread application of robotics, robots have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from robotic helpers at Amazon freight centers to robotic surgeons to self-driving cars and robotic chess coaches. At the same time, however, there has been an increasing number of cases of injuries caused by robot violence, which has raised some questions about the rapid adoption of this new technology.
A lawyer representing contract workers at Tesla's factories said she believes the number of injuries at Tesla's factories was underreported based on her conversations with workers. And according to a survey by the American magazine "Information", the injury rate at Tesla's factories in 2022 was higher than the industry average, with almost one in every 21 workers injured on the job.
This Tesla factory robot injury incident not only reveals the potential risks behind robot technology, but also poses a severe challenge to the company's safety management and supervision of new technologies. In this era of rapid technological change, how can we enjoy the convenience brought by technology while ensuring that the safety and well-being of human beings are not neglected?This is undoubtedly an important issue before us.