Robot mistook human worker for box, killed him

A robot crushes a man to death in South Korea. The machine seemed unable to differentiate between the person and the food boxes it was handling.

The man who died was an employee of a robotics company, Yonhap news agency reported. He was in his 40s.

The incident occurred on Tuesday, November 7, around 19:45 local time (interestingly, the test was originally scheduled for November 6, but was then postponed due to problems with the robot's sensor). While a worker was testing the robot's sensors at an agricultural distribution center in South Gyeongsang Province, an industrial robot that was lifting boxes of bell peppers and placing them on a pallet apparently malfunctioned and identified the worker as the box. The robotic arm pressed the man's upper body against the conveyor belt, crushing his face and chest.

The man was taken to hospital but later died there from his injuries.

Police intend to investigate the sorting center's security managers for possible negligence in the performance of their duties.

A spokesman for the Tongoson Agricultural Export Complex, which owns the plant, called for an "accurate and safe" system after the incident.

This is not the first such case in South Korea. In March, a 50-year-old man was seriously injured after being trapped by a robot while working at a car parts factory.