Man crushed to death by industrial robot that confused him for a box: police

FILE - A robotic arm in operation at a production plant in Santa Pau, Spain. A man in South Korea was crushed to death by a similar type of robot in South Korea. The machine mistook him for a box, according to reports. (Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Get …

A man in South Korea was crushed to death by a robot that may have mistaken him for a box, according to reports. 

The victim, a worker in his 40s, was inspecting the robot's sensor at a vegetable-packaging plant on Tuesday when the incident took place. The warehouse is located in South Gyeongsand province, a region in the south of the country.

The robotic arm is understood to have confused the man for a box of vegetables and grabbed him. It then pushed his body against a conveyor belt before crushing his face and chest, according to Yonhap, a South Korean news agency.

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The victim was rushed to a hospital but died later 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 had been sent to the plant to examine whether the machine was working properly.

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The machine was one of two pick-and-place robots used at the facility, which packages bell peppers and other vegetables exported to other Asian countries, police said. 

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Police are investigating whether the machine has any technical defects or safety issues. One report suggested that the man may have moved near the robot with a box in his hands, which could have triggered the machine’s reaction.

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There have been a number of other incidents involving industrial robots in recent years.

For instance, a robot crushed and seriously injured a worker at an auto parts factory in March, and last year a robot installed near a conveyor belt fatally crushed a worker at a milk factory.

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