Robot malfunctions and attacks customer in Saratov tech store

What happened

A sales advisor robot named Sema malfunctioned at the Volga Store electronics shop in Saratov, Russia. Video footage showed the robot suddenly went out of control and attempted to attack a customer after the customer pushed the robot.

Reported impact

No injury to the customer was reported. Staff intervened to stop the robot.

Index analysis

The technical cause and details of the robot's malfunction are unclear. The robot was shut down after the incident and later restarted.

Classification

Organization

Volga Store (deployer)

Category

Safety and wellbeing

Industry

Logistics, wholesale and retail

Country

Russia

Harm status

Potential harm

Intent

Unintentional

Timing

Post-deployment

Harmed

Consumers

Failure modes

Unsafe autonomous behaviour, Agent misaction

Consequences

None recorded

AI systems

Sema

Sources and evidence