Industrial Robot Crushes Worker in South Korea
2023-11-10
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1South Korean police said Thursday an industrial robot had crushed a worker to death at a vegetable processing center.
2The male worker suffered severe head and chest injuries after the robot's arms pushed his body against a conveyor belt used to move box containers.
3The man was treated at a hospital in the southern county of Goseong, but died of his injuries.
4Police said early evidence suggested human error was more likely to blame than problems with the robot itself.
5But investigators were looking into whether the machine was defective or incorrectly designed.
6The robot was being used to lift boxes filled with vegetables.
7Police said the victim of the accident was an employee of a company that deploys industrial robots to businesses.
8He was sent to the processing center to examine whether the machine was working correctly.
9A police official who spoke to The Associated Press (AP) said investigators were looking into the possibility that the robot had misidentified the worker as a box.
10The machine's sensors are designed to identify boxes.
11Security video suggested the man had moved near the robot with a box in his hands and this could have caused the machine's reaction, the official said.
12The machine that caused the death was one of two used at the center to lift and transport boxes loaded with vegetables to be exported to other Asian nations.
13Such robots are common in South Korean agricultural communities.
14A police investigator told the AP the machine was not an "artificial intelligence-powered robot," but a device designed to just lift and place boxes.
15He said police were working with related agencies to find out whether the machine had safety issues.
16The International Federation of Robotics, based in Germany, estimated South Korea had 1,000 industrial robots per 10,000 employees in 2021.
17This represents the highest density of industrial robots in the world.
18Many of these robots are used in manufacturing factories such as electronics and auto-making.
19South Korea has had other industrial robot accidents in recent years.
20In March, a manufacturing robot crushed and seriously injured a worker who was examining it at an auto parts factory in Gunsan.
21And in 2022, a robot working near a conveyor belt crushed a worker to death at a milk factory south of the capital Seoul.
22I'm Bryan Lynn.
1South Korean police said Thursday an industrial robot had crushed a worker to death at a vegetable processing center. 2The male worker suffered severe head and chest injuries after the robot's arms pushed his body against a conveyor belt used to move box containers. The man was treated at a hospital in the southern county of Goseong, but died of his injuries. 3Police said early evidence suggested human error was more likely to blame than problems with the robot itself. But investigators were looking into whether the machine was defective or incorrectly designed. The robot was being used to lift boxes filled with vegetables. 4Police said the victim of the accident was an employee of a company that deploys industrial robots to businesses. He was sent to the processing center to examine whether the machine was working correctly. 5A police official who spoke to The Associated Press (AP) said investigators were looking into the possibility that the robot had misidentified the worker as a box. The machine's sensors are designed to identify boxes. Security video suggested the man had moved near the robot with a box in his hands and this could have caused the machine's reaction, the official said. 6The machine that caused the death was one of two used at the center to lift and transport boxes loaded with vegetables to be exported to other Asian nations. Such robots are common in South Korean agricultural communities. 7A police investigator told the AP the machine was not an "artificial intelligence-powered robot," but a device designed to just lift and place boxes. He said police were working with related agencies to find out whether the machine had safety issues. 8The International Federation of Robotics, based in Germany, estimated South Korea had 1,000 industrial robots per 10,000 employees in 2021. This represents the highest density of industrial robots in the world. Many of these robots are used in manufacturing factories such as electronics and auto-making. 9South Korea has had other industrial robot accidents in recent years. In March, a manufacturing robot crushed and seriously injured a worker who was examining it at an auto parts factory in Gunsan. And in 2022, a robot working near a conveyor belt crushed a worker to death at a milk factory south of the capital Seoul. 10I'm Bryan Lynn. 11The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. 12_______________________________________________ 13Words in This Story 14conveyor belt - n. a continuous moving piece of rubber or metal used to transport objects from one place to another 15defective - adj. being imperfect or having a problem