Musk Slams Media Over Robot Attack And Safety Issue Reports

(RTTNews) - Tesla CEO Elon Musk slammed the media for its recent reports about robot attacks at his Giga Texas factory in Austin, claiming it was an attack by Optimus robot.

Musk defended the robots by posting on X that, "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." He further claimed that Optimus robots are futuristic and will help to create a "quasi-infinite" economy.

The reported robot attack took place in 2021 when a programming engineer was pinned and assaulted by a robot. The robot sank its claw into the engineer's back and arm, leaving a blood trail on the factory floor. The employee was saved when another employee pressed the emergency stop button.

The incident came to light when an injury report was submitted, revealing that a lack of safety and improper working conditions had led to a high injury rate at the Giga Texas factory.

In 2020, regulators of California reported that Tesla had sent them incomplete factory injury reports.

According to a report submitted to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, about one in 21 workers faced injuries last year. This year, in January, a terrifying incident occurred when water was accidentally submerged in molten aluminum, leading to an explosion resembling a "sonic boom" that sent a ball of fire into the air.

Similarly, an employee was crushed in Shanghai by factory equipment. The Chinese authorities said they wanted to punish the company for a lack of safety measures.

In October, Tesla rejected the German union's complaints regarding safety weaknesses.