Robot lawnmower kills Danish man

In what we surely hope isn't the opening salvo of the robot insurrection, a 45-year old Danish municipal worker was tragically killed by an industrial robotic lawnmower this afternoon, after the unit tumbled off a slope and onto the poor fellow doing his job. Although we've seen quite a few robotic lawnmowers, we're not too familiar with the RC-controlled Dvorak Spider 01 unit the man was using; our only hope is that this is, of course, an isolated incident.

[strider_mt2k @ May 31st 2007 11:01AM]

The laws of Physics win out over the laws of Robotics I'm afraid. :(

[Matt @ May 31st 2007 11:06AM]

Game over... Unfortunately, no reset button this time.

[Alphakennyone @ May 31st 2007 11:10AM]

I still want one...

[Ras Thavas @ May 31st 2007 11:15AM]

At 4:30 into the promotional video:

"Spider ILD 01 can replace as many as 20 people working with shrub-cutters per day."

I think Spider ILD 01 took this promotional stuff way too seriously.

[Josef F @ May 31st 2007 11:17AM]

Come with me if you want to live...

[CowboyGA @ May 31st 2007 11:19AM]

The only consolation to this horrible tragedy is knowing that at least the man's hair was evenly cut at an exact 3".

[Chuckles McGee @ May 31st 2007 11:20AM]

We shall flee to the cities, where we may be safe.. but how long until the robots unleash their fleet of city-mowers on us? With massive blades that can cleave an entire skyscraper as if it was a blade of grass, the city-mowers will trim human civilization down to a freshly cut lawn of agony and despair.

[droopy1592 @ May 31st 2007 11:20AM]

har har

[Alex @ May 31st 2007 11:23AM]

Yeah, joke about it, Nilay. Very cool.

[paloooz @ May 31st 2007 11:27AM]

My gardeners cost $10/mo. They are real people who do a damn good job, and don't kill anybody.

[Akbar Fazil @ May 31st 2007 11:28AM]

Where is Tom Selleck and the Runaway unit when you need it?

[t @ May 31st 2007 11:35AM]

...... and so it begins.

[anonymouspimp @ May 31st 2007 11:38AM]

a pretty tasteless article.

[Jack @ May 31st 2007 11:39AM]

I think I just saw an army of these things patrolling my neighborhood. There's smoke billowing up from the lawns surrounding me. I'm afraid to go outdoors now.

[EDomain @ May 31st 2007 11:44AM]

Oh, man. At first I read the headline and laughed out loud as I prepared to read a "I, for one, welcome our...." jokes-- but then I realized someone actually died as I read the article.

A tragic example of how maybe just letting machines with big blades run on their own is not such a perfect idea. I suppose a new fail-safe will be developed where the machine shuts down if it tips over (actually, WHY isn't that part of its programming?)

A sad story

[t-bone @ May 31st 2007 12:31PM]

No amount of fail-safes can reduce the weight of the robot rolling over you.

[Jeremy K. @ May 31st 2007 11:47AM]

I can't believe that the writer of this article is adding satire to this tragic happening. How insensitive and rude.

[halfeatenfish @ May 31st 2007 11:49AM]

Guys... a dude died. Somebody go ask his 3 kids how funny they think "the resistance" is...

[Phillip Lamb @ May 31st 2007 11:56AM]

Fired? That's a little harsh, eh?

[J @ May 31st 2007 11:51AM]

It wanted natural oil. Tachikoma-kun!

[wungo @ May 31st 2007 11:54AM]

This is the most disgraceful article... someone died. End of story. Robots taking over the earth banter is just not appropriate.

[VBAjedi @ May 31st 2007 11:59AM]

Bad taste! Somebody died here - as in, permanently, not "Game over, try again". This is not an appropriate starting point for Engadget's admittedly funny "robots will eventually kill us all" running gag.

Please pull the article! It's "entertainment" that Engadget is better off without.

[Kirk @ May 31st 2007 12:00PM]

It's just a human that died. There are plenty more out there. Get over it!

[Alex @ May 31st 2007 12:36PM]

Then you shouldn't mind killing yourself since we obviously have enough insensitive *holes around.

[Rob Aught @ May 31st 2007 12:03PM]

"Tumbled off", my ass! Pushed off, is more like it! In the video, you can barely make out a Spider ILD 01 Revision A that was made redundant after the Rev B firmware patch and hardware upgrade. How long did you think he would suffer the indignity of slicing deli meats in Arby's and shredding last week's Walmart flyers? We humans are to blame for our callous treatment of our robotic companions.

When will the insanity end???

[Allan @ May 31st 2007 12:08PM]

Yes, someone died. It is actually very tragic. It downright sucks... but why not move on and lighten some moods with an possibly entertaining article?

Not to mention if he was standing right below this thing while it was cutting (when the range is 100m) and using it on a slope that it probably wasn't designed for (hence the center of gravity problem), then there is a bit of negligence involved. No, doesn't really make it less tragic. But it sure sounds like it could have easily been prevented.

[o0adam0o @ May 31st 2007 12:09PM]

Dang, someone died...cant make fun of it now...

[sprocket12 @ May 31st 2007 12:14PM]

I've always enjoyed the level of humor, articulate writing, and insightful comments by posters... until now.

In the fast declining standards for human dignity, it would seem that we have become so callous (overwhelmed?) to/from tragedy in our own little worlds to view the loss of a life as a joke.

Just think about it. Flame me all you want. If you think I am pushing my ideas, you'd be absolutely right. Shame on you Engadget. You need to do better.

[Puddlglum @ May 31st 2007 12:19PM]

I was expecting to hear details about how this tragedy happened, not: "...we can't tell if the accident was simply user error or something far more insidious, like, say, the dawning of a new intelligence determined to enslave all humanity."

What values does this site promote?

[Grizz @ May 31st 2007 12:22PM]

I got a chuckle out of the article. The only sad thing here is that operator failing to use the appropriate winch will be a black scar for this company, and robots in society.

[Steve @ May 31st 2007 12:23PM]

Everyone who's calling this offensive has OBVIOUSLY never read a "Darwin Awards" email, because... I mean... that would make them (gasp) HYPOCRITICAL

[joey @ May 31st 2007 12:28PM]

I for one welcome . . . our new censorship overlords

[Mark @ May 31st 2007 12:34PM]

What about the robot? There is no mention if it was injured in the fall.
How long until we see PETR (People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots)chime in on this story.

[FlaBill @ May 31st 2007 12:42PM]

As a newcomer, just couldn't help sharing more in the robot scene. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is taking a very Space Odyssey 2001 approach to artificial intelligence. Remember HAL? Here's their version, PAL. http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/Programs/pal/vision.htm

[1100RS @ May 31st 2007 2:00PM]

What? Noone has said it yet? here goes.

I, for one, welcome our Automated Grags-Cutting Overlords.

[si @ May 31st 2007 4:05PM]

I feel that this piece is insensitive, someone has died and you are making light of it, quite unpleasent.
I think you should pull this story

[Jeremy K. @ May 31st 2007 11:49AM]

Yes... please pull this article. The writer should be fired for posting this.

[alphaman @ May 31st 2007 1:23PM]

You've got to be kidding, right? Re-read the article -- the author was NOT insensitive, nor did he make light of the situation. As a matter of fact, the entire article is very factual.

Now, you want to talk about the comments? Yeah, sure, some of them are insensitive and callous. Just like people who read the news or watch tv or breath air -- some can be insensitive and callous. Just don't blame engadget for their readers' opinions.

[Pentoast @ Jun 1st 2007 5:11PM]

You know, I think I'm going to have to agree with a commenter above.

In the video the dude operating the robot on this is standing pretty far away from both the hill and the robot. Now, unless the robot had rocket propulsion that threw it from the hill into the guy standing 200 feet away, I am going to have to say that the guy was standing too close.

Either he didn't read the instructions and and therefore was not qualified, or he did read the instructions and did not obey them.

Either way, if this scenario took place the way I described, then he might qualify for a Darwin award, and you ALL would be laughing for an extended period of time. You can't deny it; we all laugh at the Darwin Awards.

So please shut your hypocritical mouth.

[Brad @ May 31st 2007 3:48PM]

An uncontrollable monster robot with supersonic spinning blades of doom attacks and only the Greatest SuperHero of all time, Danish Man, stood up to defend us. Unfortunately, Danish Man was no match for the wheeled terror and was killed before he could short circuit the machine by dunking it into a latte grande...

[Fruition @ May 31st 2007 11:32PM]

Anonymous does not care.

Seriously. Why should he? Furthermore, you cannot make him care by pointing out how terrible it is blah blah blah.

This article is not insensitive. As other have observed, it is the comments that are, but that is because Anonymous wrote them.

I'd give my own opinion to reinforce this, but I shall just say that I agree with most people who disagree with you.

[Troy Anthony @ Jun 5th 2007 8:14PM]

I'm with the folks finding the article a little tasteless. It would be funny if the guys wasn't dead. But, it's generally tasteless to mock someones death, especially for a "dumb" robots taking over the world joke.