A man was crushed to death by a robot is reported from South Korea.
Yesterday’s incident was caused by a robot’s failure to distinguish human from product boxes being handled.
The deceased is a 40-year-old employee of the robotics company.
The man was checking the operation of the robot’s sensors at an agricultural product distribution center in South Gyeongsang Province.
The industrial robot has stopped working while picking up boxes filled with bell peppers and placing them on a moving belt.
Yonhap police quoted the local media as saying that the robot thought the man was a bell pepper box and crushed it.
Acting as an arm, this robot crushes the worker’s upper body, chest, and face into the box and places it on the conveyor belt.
He was reportedly shifted to hospital but later died.
Last March, a 50-year-old South Korean man was seriously injured after being hit by a robot while working at an auto parts factory.
South Korea ranks high in the use of robots for factory work.
South Korea’s robot density, or the number of robots per 10,000 workers, is seven times higher than the global average.
That is 141 robots per 10,000 workers.
In the country, human employment is being invaded by the prominent use of robots.
As of last year, China, Japan, America and South Korea are in the fourth place respectively among the most countries in the world that use industrial robots.
Today, there are more than 3.4 million industrial robots working in factories around the world.
This is quite poorly drafted. You need an editor. And the picture and subject header are very misleading. Please be more responsible and sensitive in your reporting.