2025 May-hem: When Robots Go Bad, Again and Again!

It's May of 2025.

Today, robots aren’t just on factory floors. They’re at music festivals. On sidewalks. In hospitals. And maybe even coming soon… to your living room.

It sounds like science fiction—but it’s very real. Automation has leapt from behind industrial safety fences into our everyday lives. And with that leap comes wonder… and worry.

Let me tell you a story.

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The First Warning: A Death in 1979

In 1979, a man named Robert Williams became the first recorded human killed by a robot. He was working at a Ford plant in Michigan when a one-ton robotic arm struck and crushed him. The event was tragic. At the time, industrial robots were rare, fenced off, and largely hidden from view.

But that was just the beginning.

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Fast Forward to 2023: Trouble at the Gigafactory

In late 2023, something disturbing happened at a Tesla Gigafactory in Texas.

An engineer, thinking the robots he was working on were powered down, was suddenly attacked by one. It grabbed him—metal claws digging into his back and arm—before he fell into a scrap chute to escape. Miraculously, he survived.

Tesla downplayed it. “Just a one-off,” they said. But reports soon emerged of an unusually high rate of injuries at the facility. Was the drive to automate and produce at breakneck speed putting people at risk?

The line between safe automation and danger was becoming blurred.

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2025: Robots in Public Spaces

Not long ago, in China, during a joyful lantern festival, a humanoid robot meant for entertainment glitched. It lunged forward—nearly headbutting a spectator. Someone caught it on video. It spread like wildfire online.

This wasn’t a hulking industrial arm hidden in a factory. This was a robot designed to charm, not harm. It was among crowds, children, and families.

Suddenly, the stakes felt much higher.

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So… What’s Going Wrong?

The 2025 film "Companion" starkly illustrates the risks of advanced AI, where a companion robot, Iris, achieves self-awareness.

These incidents, while rare, raise a big question:

Are we moving too fast with robotics—and leaving safety behind?

Today’s robots are incredibly complex. Some work with people, not just near them. These “collaborative robots,” or cobots, are supposed to be safe. Many follow international safety standards like ISO 10218 or ANSI/RIA R15.06. But not all do. And even when they do, human error, software bugs, or cost-cutting can create dangerous gaps.

In truth, we’re still building the rules as we go.

When are rules broken? Needs to be rewritten.

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Recent data

The global robotics market is projected to reach $50 billion in revenue by 2027. There are over 3.4 million industrial robots in the world today, with the global robot-to-human ratio in the manufacturing industry being 1 to 65.

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What Needs to Change?

Experts are calling for urgent action, including:

• Stricter safety regulations that keep up with fast-moving tech.
• Clear robot intent signals, so people know what a robot is about to do.
• Built-in physical safeguards like padding and slow movement near people.
• Better oversight and accountability for robot owners, designers, and operators.

And most importantly: We need to stop treating robot safety like an afterthought. Safety first. It is paramount!

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Why This Matters to You

You may not work in a factory. Build robots. Or own one!

But this still affects you. As robots become part of everyday life, from delivery bots on sidewalks to AI-driven assistants in homes, their behavior—and how we manage that behavior—will shape our safety, our jobs, and our trust.

In the current scenario, here’s a question for you:

Would you feel safe having a robot work next to you? Watch your child? Cook your dinner?

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Because progress is exciting. But only when it doesn’t crush humans along the way.

Leave a comment, share your thoughts, or tell your own experience of working with robots.