Rise of the machines: When robots go rogue – from humanoids that turned on handlers and attacked crowds to the factory malfunction that ended in worker’s gruesome death

They were built to serve, programmed to protect, and designed to obey.

But chilling moments captured on camera across the globe, show that machines meant to make life easier can go haywire – even occasionally turning on their human creators with shocking speed and force.

From factory floors to festivals, there are moments that show robots are not infallible.

In 2022, a seven-year-old boy’s finger was broken after a robot grabbed it during what was meant to be an innocent chess tournament in Russia.

Three months ago, a humanoid robot lunged into a screaming crowd during a Chinese out door concert, forcing security to drag it back from the barriers.

And in 2023, a factory worker was crushed to death after a robot failed to differentiate him from a box of vegetables and pushed him against a conveyor belt.

Experts have chillingly warned that as the lines blur between man and machine, these incidents may be only the beginning.

In chilling moments captured on camera across the globe, machines meant to make life easier have gone haywire – turning on their human creators with shocking speed and force

When chess robots go bad

In 2022, a chess-playing robot broke a child’s finger during a tournament in Russia, with the incident being captured in CCTV footage.

The robot grabbed the seven-year-old boy’s finger because it was confused by his overly-quick movements, Russian media outlets reported, quoting the President of the Moscow Chess Federation – who seemingly blamed the child.

The incident occurred at the Moscow Open on July 19. Lazarev said that the federation had rented the robot for the event, which ran from July 13 to 21.

The footage shows the robot – which consists of a single mechanical arm with multiple joints and a ‘hand’ – was in the middle of a table and surrounded by three different chess boards. It’s AI can reportedly play three matches at the same time.

Captured by a camera over the boy’s shoulder, the video starts by showing the robot as it picks up a piece from the board and drops it into a box to the side – used to contain the discarded pieces from the game.

As it does so, the young boy reaches to make his next move. However, the robot appears to mistake the boy’s finger for a chess piece, and grabs that instead.

Upon grabbing the boy’s finger, the mechanical arms freezes in place, trapping the boy who begins to panic. Several people standing around the table rush in to help him, and after a few seconds are able to free him from the robot’s grip.

Lazarev said in his statement that the boy was able to return to the tournament the following day in a case, and finished the tournament.

The robot appears to mistake the boy’s finger for a chess piece, and grabs that instead, breaking his finger

Household robot tries to ‘eat’ woman’s hair

A South Korean woman who invested in a robot vacuum cleaner in 2015 was left in shock when it seemingly attempted to ‘eat’ her.

The 52-year-old resident of Changwon city was taking a nap on the floor at her home when the vacuum cleaner locked on to her hair and sucked it up. 

The pain of having her hair entangled within the contraption caused her to wake up instantly.

Unable to free herself, she called the fire department with a ‘desperate rescue plea’ and was separated from the robot’s clutches by paramedics, according to local reports from the time.

She escaped serious injury, although it is not known whether she retained the autonomous cleaner’s services. 

A 52-year-old resident of Changwon city was taking a nap on the floor at her home when the robotic vacuum cleaner locked on to her hair and sucked it up

Humanoid robot attacks crowd at Chinese festival

Video footage taken on February 9, 2025, shows the human-shaped robot, adorned with a bright jacket, appearing to lunge at a group of people behind a barricade at the Spring Festival Gala in Tianjin, northeast China.

Its erratic movements forced the festival’s security to drag it back from the crowd, over fears it may harm someone.

The event organisers reportedly described the incident as a ‘simple robot failure.’

They added that the robot had passed previous safety tests, and that additional measures would be put in place to make sure this wouldn’t happen again.

Many have expressed deep fears over the rising influence of machines in human lives.

The human-shaped robot lunged at a group of people behind a barricade at the Spring Festival Gala in Tianjin, northeast China

Robot tries to break free from restraints while attacking handler

In May 2025, a humanoid robot was seen attacking its handler while trying to break free from restraints in a scene viewers branded ‘dystopian’.

In CCTV footage from a factory in China, the black robot could be seen attached to a miniature crane before it suddenly began swinging its arms back and forth.

As it flew into a rage and lashed out, a man sitting behind a nearby computer began ducking while another man standing behind the robot backed away.

The robot – seemingly of its own accord –  raised its arms in the air and brought them down again, repeating the motion with increasing speed and violence.

It then began walking forward as it thrashed around in an apparent bid to break free from the crane.

The men could both be seen flinching and cowering while raising their arms to shield their face as they moved out of its path.

The computer monitor toppled tp the floor and other items were knocked over from the desk as the men attempted to flee from the out-of-control robot. 

Eventually, one of the men pulled the crane from behind in a bid to stop the spree of destruction.

The robot – seemingly of its own accord – raised its arms in the air and brought them down again, repeating the motion with increasing speed and violence

Dog walker ‘attacked’ by Co-op delivery robot  

A dog walker claimed he was attacked by a Co-op delivery robot with a ‘mind of its own’ after it rammed into his German Shepherd in 2023.

Brian Dawson, 56, said a shopping bot crashed into his dog Pippa while they were walking on the pavement near a Co-Op branch in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

The robots are meant to be programmed to avoid collision but Dawson, a Tesco delivery driver, said it went on to ram him in the leg, causing him to kick the droid to remove it ‘out of harm’s way’.

Footage from Dawson’s neighbour’s doorbell camera, shows the shopping containing travelling at pace down the pavement before coming to an abrupt stop after colliding with the animal.

Infuriated by the crash, Dawson shoved it onto its side which ‘triggered its alarm’ and made a ‘terrible racket’.

He then drove to make a complaint to the store, when the robot appeared, the alarm was still making a racket.

Dawson added that he tried to complain to Co-op staff but was told by the manager that the robot was not his responsibility.

Brian Dawson, 56, said a shopping bot rammed into his dog Pippa during an incident near a Co-Op branch in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Tesla robot attacks an engineer at factory 

A Tesla engineer was attacked by a robot during a brutal and bloody malfunction at the company’s Giga Texas factory near Austin in 2021.

Two witnesses watched in horror as their fellow employee was attacked by the machine designed to grab and move freshly cast aluminum car parts.

The robot had pinned the man, who was then programming software for two disabled Tesla robots nearby, before sinking its metal claws into the worker’s back and arm, leaving a ‘trail of blood’ along the factory surface.

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 was 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 came amid years of heightened concerns over the risks of automated robots in the workplace.

Two witnesses watched in horror as a fellow Tesla employee rescued the bloodied engineer from an unwitting, but violent robotic assault – perpetrated by an automated assembly device (like these red robot arms above) designed to grab and move freshly cast aluminum car parts

Man crushed to death by a robot 

A man was crushed to death by a robot in South Korea after it failed to differentiate him from a box of vegetables in 2023.

The victim, a robotics company worker in his 40s, was inspecting the machine’s sensor at a distribution centre for agricultural produce in South Gyeongsang.

Illustrative image shows a robot arm in use at a factory in Japan. A man at a factory in South Korea was killed on Wednesday, apparently after a robot crushed him against a conveyer belt. The above image does not show the same robot arm involved in the incident in South Korea

The machine, which was lifting boxes of peppers onto a pallet, grabbed the man with its arm and pushed him against the conveyer belt, crushing his face and chest.

The robot appeared to have malfunctioned and identified the man as a box, police sources said at the time. 

The victim was transferred to the hospital but died later, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency.

Robot kills worker at Volkswagen plant 

A robot killed a contractor at one of Volkswagen’s production plants in Germany in 2015.

A robot killed a contractor at one of Volkswagen’s production plants in Germany in 2015

The man died at the plant in Baunatal, about 100km (62 miles) north of Frankfurt, VW spokesman Heiko Hillwig said.

The 22-year-old was part of a team that was setting up the stationary robot when it grabbed and crushed him against a metal plate, Hillwig added.

He said initial conclusions indicated that human error was to blame, rather than a problem with the robot, which can be programmed to perform various tasks in the assembly process. 

He said it normally operates within a confined area at the plant, grabbing auto parts and manipulating them.

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