In a rare accident, a robot crushed a man to death in South Korea after it was unable to distinguish him from food boxes, media reports.
The incident occurred when the man, an employee at a robotics company, in his 40s, was inspecting the robot.
The robot mistook the man for a box of vegetables and grabbed him by mistake. It then pushed him onto the conveyor belt, causing his face and chest to be crushed by the machine, South Korean news agency Yonhap said.
The man was rushed to the hospital, but later succumbed to his injuries.
As reported by Yonhap, the robot was given the responsibility of picking up boxes of peppers and moving them onto pallets.
The man was checking the robot’s sensor operations before testing it at the pepper sorting plant located in South Gyeongsang province, the agency said, citing police.
The test was originally supposed to take place on November 6, but was postponed due to problems with the robot’s sensor.
The man, who worked for a company that made the robotic arm, was performing checks on various machines until late at night when the robot malfunctioned.
After the incident, an official from the Donggoseong Agricultural Export Complex, in a statement, said there is a need to create an “accurate and safe” system.
In March, a South Korean man in his 50s was seriously injured after a robot blocked him while he was working at an auto parts factory.
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