A man was crushed to death by a robot in South Korea, because the machine apparently could not distinguish him from the boxes of products he was handling, Yonhap news agency reported this Wednesday (8).
The man, aged around 40, was an employee of a robotics company. At the time of the accident, he was inspecting the robot’s sensor operations at an agricultural product distribution center in South Gyeongsang Province.
The industrial robot, which lifted boxes full of peppers and placed them in a pallet box, had malfunctioned, identifying the man as a box, Yonhap detailed, citing the police.
The robotic arm pushed his upper body against the conveyor belt, crushing his face and chest, according to the news outlet.
The employee was taken to the hospital, but did not survive and later died, the article adds.
In March, a South Korean man in his 50s suffered serious injuries after being trapped by a robot while working at an auto parts factory.
