Robot misidentifies humans as 'boxes' and crushes them to death

An accident occurred at a agricultural product distribution center in South Korea where a robot mistook a human being for a box and crushed him to death.

Industrial robot crushes man to death in South Korean distribution center | Robots | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/08/south-korean-man-killed-by-industrial-robot-in-distribution-centre

The accident occurred at an agricultural products distribution center located in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.

The robot in question has the function of ``lifting boxes filled with peppers (chili peppers or green peppers) and arranging them on a pallet,'' and was scheduled to be tested at a distribution center from November 6, 2023, but the sensor The start of operation was postponed due to problems discovered.

The victim, a man in his 40s, works for a company that developed the robot, and reportedly continued to inspect the sensor until late at night on November 8, 2023. However, during the inspection, the robot malfunctioned and pushed the man onto a conveyor belt, compressing his face and chest. The man was taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Police say the cause of the accident was ``because the robot misidentified the man as a box.''

There have also been other incidents where robots have harmed humans. For example, in July 2022, an accident occurred in Russia in which a chess robot grabbed and broke a child's finger. In addition, in South Korea, there was an incident in March 2023 in which a man working at an auto parts manufacturing factory was seriously injured by a robot.

An incident occurred where a chess robot grabbed the finger of an opponent boy and broke it - GIGAZINE