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A man in South Korea was reportedly crushed to death by a robot that may have mistaken him for a box.
The victim, a worker in his 40s, was inspecting the robot’s sensor at a vegetable packing plant on Tuesday when the incident occurred. The camp is located in South Gyeongsand Province, a region in the south of the country.
The robot arm is said to have mistaken the man for a box of vegetables and grabbed him. It then pinned his body against a conveyor belt before smashing his face and chest, according to Yonhap, a South Korean news agency.
A robotic arm in use at a production facility in Santa Pau, Spain. A man in South Korea was crushed to death by a similar type of robot on Tuesday. The machine reportedly mistook him for a box. (Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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The victim was taken to a hospital but later died of head and chest injuries, police said.
The man was not identified, but police said he was an employee of a company that installs industrial robots. He was sent to the factory to check whether the machine was working properly.
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The machine was one of two pick-and-place robots used at the plant, which packs peppers and other vegetables exported to other Asian countries, police said.
The police are investigating whether the machine has technical or safety defects. According to a report, the man may have moved near the robot with a box in his hand, which could have triggered the machine’s reaction.
The man may have been too close to the robot while carrying the box. (iStock / iStock)
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There have been a number of other incidents involving industrial robots in recent years.
For example, in March, a worker at an auto parts factory was crushed and seriously injured by a robot, and last year, a worker at a dairy factory was fatally crushed by a robot installed near a conveyor belt.