Methodology: how incidents are recorded

What counts as an incident

An incident is a specific event, with a date and a place, in which a robot or autonomous system was involved in harm, damage, a near miss or a notable public disruption. All four parts matter:

Specific and dated. “Robotaxis block traffic” is a pattern; a robotaxi that blocked a fire engine on a named street on a known day is an incident.
A robot or autonomous system. A machine that senses and acts in the physical world with some degree of automation. See the categories below.
Involved, not necessarily at fault. A record says the system was part of the event. It does not say the system, its maker or its operator caused it, unless an investigation concluded that.
Consequence. Someone was hurt, something was damaged, officials or the operator treated it as a safety event, or public space or emergency response was disrupted.

Recalls, investigations, fines and lawsuits are not incidents on their own. They are recorded as outcomes inside the incident they followed. The one exception is a product recall that reports injuries or fires without identifying individual events: it is recorded once, dated at the recall announcement.

Geographic scope. The United States, including the District of Columbia and territories. Incidents elsewhere may be added later and will be clearly marked.

Not included: vandalism against robots, purely software AI failures with no physical system, hobby drone flying, staged or unverified viral videos, and policy disputes with no underlying event.

Sourcing and verification

Every record is written from sources a person or the research agent actually opened, and every record lists them. The order of preference:

Official records: NTSB, NHTSA, OSHA, FAA, CPSC and FDA documents, state DMV and utility-commission filings, police and fire statements, court filings and opinions.
Statements from the parties: the operator, the manufacturer, the injured person or their lawyers, always attributed.
Reporting from established news organizations with named reporters and a corrections practice.

Social media posts and videos can prompt research but cannot be the only basis for a record. Where sources disagree on a fact, the record follows the primary source and says so.

Automated research, with rules. A research agent searches official data and news every day and drafts new records. It works under the same rules as a human editor: it may only state what an opened source supports, it may not guess or construct a link, and its drafts must pass automated checks on structure and sourcing before they are published. Records are corrected when anyone shows they are wrong.

Severity

Severity describes the worst established consequence of the incident, not how alarming it was.

Fatal: At least one person died as a result of the incident.
Serious injury: At least one person was hospitalized, lost a limb or suffered an injury described by officials or reliable reports as serious or critical.
Minor injury: At least one person was hurt, with no report of hospitalization or lasting harm.
Property damage: Vehicles, buildings, equipment or the robot itself were damaged, or an animal was harmed, with no reported human injury.
Near miss: No harm occurred, but only because something outside the system intervened, or officials or the operator treated the event as a safety matter. A robot stopping as designed is not a near miss.
Disruption: The system blocked traffic, emergency responders or public space, or failed publicly, without injury or significant damage.

Status

Status describes how well established the account is. It changes as investigations and lawsuits conclude.

Confirmed: The core facts are established by an official record or by multiple reliable reports that agree.
Under investigation: An official investigation is open and key facts are not yet established.
Alleged: The account rests on a lawsuit, complaint or a single party’s claim that has not been tested or independently confirmed.
Disputed: The parties involved give materially different accounts of what happened.

Mode of operation

How the system was being controlled at the time, as far as sources establish it.

Driverless: Operating with no human on board or at the controls.
Autonomous, safety operator present: The automated system was in control with a human supervisor on board or alongside.
Driver assistance (Level 2): A driver-assistance system was engaged; a human driver remained responsible.
Fixed automation: A fixed industrial robot or automated cell running a programmed cycle.
Teleoperated: A remote human was controlling or assisting the machine.
Remotely piloted: An aircraft flown or supervised by a remote pilot, including automated flight under supervision.
Not established: Sources do not establish how the system was being controlled.

Coverage: what the numbers do and do not mean

The record is not a census. It contains incidents that left a public trace: an investigation, a lawsuit, a regulator filing or news coverage. Many incidents, especially minor ones inside private workplaces, never do.

Counts are not rates. Nothing here is divided by miles driven, hours operated or robots deployed. A company with more records may simply operate more, in more public places.
Reporting rules differ. Operators of automated driving systems must report certain crashes to NHTSA; a factory robot injury may surface only if OSHA investigates. Categories are not comparable by count.
Recent years are fuller. Older incidents are added as they are researched, so year-by-year counts partly reflect the record's own growth.
Driver assistance is selective by design. Thousands of crashes involve Level 2 systems. Only cases with a federal investigation or a major regulatory consequence are recorded.

People in the record

Records do not name private individuals: victims, workers, bystanders, drivers or safety operators, even when other publications have. Companies are named, and executives and officials may be named when acting in their role. Court case names can appear in a source citation because that is how the document is found.

Language

Records use plain, neutral wording. A lawsuit “alleges”; a company “said”; an investigation “found.” Cause and fault are stated only when an official investigation or a court established them. Records are written in the site's own words and do not reproduce source text.

Corrections and right of reply

If a record is wrong, incomplete or out of date, write to pradeepranwa96@gmail.com with the record's address and a source for the correction. Any company or person involved in an incident may send a statement, which will be summarized in the record and attributed.

Factual errors are corrected promptly and the record's “last updated” date changes.
Substantive corrections are noted in the record itself.
Records are not removed because they are unwelcome. A record is withdrawn only if the incident cannot be supported by sources, and the address then says so.

Independence

Robo Incidents is an independent publication. It is not affiliated with any robot maker, operator, law firm, insurer or regulator, and no one pays to add, change or remove a record. Nothing on this site is legal advice.