KILLER ROBOT Injures Worker? Elon Musk Defends ‘Optimus’

Is Optimus a dangerous piece of machinery set to take over, or just another novelty robot?

Elon Musk has come out to defend his creation after a report from Daily Mail claimed that the robot turned on a factory worker in 2021.

According to that report, the robot, which is designed to move heavy metallic car parts, pinned the man to the wall and dug its mechanic claws into the worker, leaving open wounds.

The billionaire industrialist categorically denied the claims and it was revealed that the robot in question was a Kuka robot, not Optimus.

Several individuals on social media also point to the fact that the engineer who was ‘attacked’ by the robot thought the machines were off, but they were not. Musk responded to the claims as part of this social media thread:

“Attacks” implies it made a decision. That robot did exactly as it was programmed to do. Apparently the worker thought it was off when it wasn’t.

— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) December 27, 2023

Correct.

Truly shameful of the media to dredge up an injury from two years ago due to a simple industrial Kuka robot arm (found in all factories) and imply that it is due to Optimus now.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 27, 2023

Daily Mail claimed:

The incident – which left the victim with an ‘open wound’ on his left hand – was revealed in a 2021 injury report filed to Travis county and federal regulators, which has been reviewed by DailyMail.com.

While no other robot-related injures were reported to regulators by Tesla at the Texas factory in either 2021 or 2022, the incident comes amid years of heightened concerns over the risks of automated robots in the workplace.

Some individuals speculate that these Optimus robots may even be working on the Tesla line as early as next year, though this has not been confirmed.

HOLY SHIT!@teardowntitan says the @Tesla_Optimus bot can do anything on a Tesla production line that a man can do!

He also believes Tesla will have bots working on the line this year! @elonmusk when do you see bots joining the production team?

View the full interview with… https://t.co/HLL81LYkAu

— Matthew Donegan-Ryan (@MatthewDR) December 28, 2023

News Nation focused on Musk’s response to the claims:

Responding to a user who posted a screenshot of the Daily Mail story on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Musk said he took issue with reports using the word “attacks.”

In addition, the screenshot of the Daily Mail article has a thumbnail of Tesla’s Optimus robots, and not the Kuka robot arm that Musk said was involved in the 2021 injury.