'Pinned against a surface and pushed metal claws into the body': Tesla robot attacks engineer at Texas factory

A Tesla robot recently suffered a major malfunction and ended up attacking an engineer at the manufacturing factory in Austin, Texas, said a report. Quoting witnesses, The Information reported that the robot pinned the engineer against a surface, pushing its metal claws in his back and arms, and left a trail of blood.

As per the report, the engineer was programming software that controls the robot when he was attacked. Out of three robots present at the spot, two were disabled so that the engineer and his teammates could work on his machine but one remained operational. This robot was designed to move aluminum car parts in the factory.

As per the injury report obtained by The Information, the incident left an ‘open wound’ on victim’s left hand. It was reported that the injury was not severe enough to require the employee to take leave from work.  No such accident was reported by Tesla officially.

The report also revealed that Tesla regularly cuts corners on construction, maintenance, and operations that put the employees at risk. The employees even told The Information that the management’s demand for speedy production have led to safety lapses in the Texas manufacturing plant.

Witnesses told The Information that heavy machinery including crane, a steel beam and an air conditioning duct have fallen near workers on car production lines.

It was also revealed in the records reviewed by The Information that workers have fallen ill due to their exposure to toxins like ammonia at this Tesla factory.

As per the injury reports submitted to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, every one in 21 workers at Tesla’s Texas factory was injured in some way or the other last year.

In other news, Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently shared a video of a humanoid robot called Optimus that the company is currently working on. This robot is capable of performing a variety of tasks including doing yoga and sorting blocks by colour autonomously. The video showcased the ability of the robot to sort objects with ease and at a human-like speed. When a human intervenes in the task to create additional complexity, the robot is able to rapidly adapt to this change and successfully accomplish the task.

Optimuspic.twitter.com/nbRohLQ7RH

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2023

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