A worker has been crushed to death by a robot that mistook him for a box of vegetables on a conveyor belt.
The man in his 40s was checking the machine’s sensors at a distribution center for agricultural produce in South Gyeongsang, South Korea when the tragedy happened. The robot’s job was to lift up boxes of peppers onto a pallet, but it grabbed the victim by mistake and pressed him against the conveyor belt, causing his face and chest to be crushed.
The man was rushed to hospital after the accident last Tuesday but later died. A police investigation was launched, and a source said that it appeared the robot malfunctioned and identified the man as a box. The probe will look into the safety procedures in place at the distribution center and see if there is a case for negligence by managers, reported Yonhap news agency.
An official from the Donggoseong Export Agricultural Complex, which owns the plant, called for improved safety systems following the tragic accident. Local media states that tests were due to have been made on the robot on November 6, but they were postponed for two days as problems with the sensors needed to be sorted out first.
Read more at mirror.co.uk