Tesla robot "attacked" engineer? Musk responded: Shame on you!

Today, a piece of news about a Tesla robot attacking an engineer went viral online, causing a stir in public opinion.

The popularity of the related topic not only topped Baidu's hot search list, but also became the hot search on Weibo: #Tesla concealed the number of times factory robots attacked workers# and #Tesla robots suddenly attacked and injured people#.

After the incident fermented, Musk, who has always been at the forefront of "surfing", responded on his own social platform that this was an accident caused by an industrial robot arm two years ago that the media dug up and made misleading hints. This practice is "really shameful"!

Who is right and who is wrong? What is the reason? Let's discuss it together.

Tesla robot "runs wild and hurts people"?

On December 26 (GMT), the British media Daily Mail published a report titled "Tesla robot attacked an engineer at the company's Texas factory during a severe malfunction", saying that a Tesla engineer was "attacked" by a robot, causing serious injuries to his left hand. As of press time, the report has been shared more than 4,800 times and has received more than 2,300 comments.

The report quoted two witnesses as saying that the engineer was writing software for two faulty robots when he was suddenly crushed by a robot responsible for moving aluminum parts. Its metal claws pierced the engineer's back and arms, leaving bloodstains on the factory floor.

The main focus of the incident was that the robot ran rampant and injured people.

First of all, the title of the article used the controversial word "attack", which led to the idea that the whole thing was about machines actively attacking humans. It also used suggestive words such as "trail of blood" to create a terrifying atmosphere and attract a lot of attention.

Moreover, the article actually talks about the Kuka robot injuring people in the factory in 2021, but it uses many pictures of Musk and Tesla's "Optimus Prime" humanoid robot, and "thoughtfully" attaches a concept promotional video of "Optimus Prime", causing many netizens to believe that the injury incident was due to Optimus' "awakening of consciousness" and then "attacking humans."

Sure enough, after a large number of media reports that did not verify the facts, words such as "brutal and bloody", "humanoid robots running rampant", and "robot army attacking" were used as tools to attract attention, and the incident was forwarded on a large scale. It seemed that a war over "AI safety" was about to begin.

At this time, a netizen named “Whole Mars Catalog” on the X platform pointed out that the Daily Mail was misleading the public, and said, “Although it is terrible that engineers were injured, it does not mean that robots will rebel.”

Another netizen also commented: "'Attack' means it made a decision. The robot was doing exactly what it was programmed to do. Obviously the worker thought it was off, but it wasn't."

In response, Musk said: "Yes, it is shameful for the media to dig up the damage caused by a simple industrial Kuka robot arm (found in all factories) two years ago and insinuate that it is now Optimus Prime who is causing it."

Strictly speaking, the "robot" mentioned in the report should be called a "robotic arm". It does not have a powerful sensing system and relies on programs to perform simple, repetitive tasks. It does not have intelligent judgment capabilities or so-called autonomous consciousness and cannot "attack" humans.

Therefore, the Daily Mail's reporting style is inflammatory, the accompanying picture does not match the robot involved in the accident, and the "injury accident" in it is actually just a common industrial production accident.

Interaction safety needs urgent attention

Although there is some exaggeration in the media about this incident, it is not "made out of nothing".

Musk did not respond to the Daily Mail's revelations that Tesla provided false safety certificates to employees, concealed the number of injuries, and classified on-the-job accidents as "personal medical " cases to evade California regulators.

In 2022, nearly 1 in 21 workers at Tesla's Texas Gigafactory was injured on the job, while the industry median was 1 in 30 workers. Tesla's injury rate is much higher than other companies.

Tesla's safety issues have also been criticized by the outside world. In August this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a formal investigation into Tesla vehicles that were suspected of more than 400 collisions where the autopilot assist system lost control, and believed that Tesla's autopilot system "had difficulty identifying emergency vehicles parked on the roadside."

It can be seen that Tesla has certain safety risks in both car driving and factory automation. Although the outside world should not over-interpret a single incident, Tesla must also face up to this problem and cannot simply blame the media.

In recent years, the competition between traditional car companies and new forces has become increasingly fierce, and improving production efficiency has become a tough battle. As a representative of new forces in the car industry, Tesla has invested heavily in intelligent manufacturing. Its automated factory in Nevada, the United States, uses a large number of robots, AGV carts, automatic conveyor belts, etc. for welding, spraying and other processes. The robot automation rate reaches about 95%, and it is also known as the "super factory" that "ends manual car manufacturing."

With the development of informatization and flexibility in manufacturing, the traditional production method will undergo profound changes, and "machines replacing people" is an irreversible trend. However, in this transition process, certain safety accidents will inevitably occur.

Tesla's "machine-injured" incident is not an isolated case. In November this year, a South Korean man was "killed" when he was inspecting an industrial robot and it was mistaken for a box of beets.

In the short term, excessive pursuit of efficiency and cost reduction will create safety risks, but in the long term, only by establishing a safe and reliable intelligent manufacturing system can we achieve long-term competitiveness.

Enterprises should establish a correct concept of "human-machine collaboration" and should not simply replace people with machines. Instead, they should achieve the optimal configuration of people and machines based on full consideration of the overall system of the workplace. At the same time, they should continuously improve technology, optimize processes, and eliminate safety hazards as much as possible.

At the same time, relevant departments should establish relevant laws and regulations and standards for safety supervision under the new situation, promote reform and innovation in supervision methods, strengthen the investigation and management of safety hazards, and prevent all kinds of production accidents in the bud and prepare for them in advance.

What do you think about this matter?