Korea stirs because robot employee 'self-destructs'

On June 26, Gumi City Council (South Korea) announced that the administrative staff robot manufactured by Bear Robotics fell down a 2m high staircase last week and no longer responded.

Bear Robotics is a startup company specializing in robots working as waiters in California, USA.

Korea stirs because robot employee 'self-destructs' Picture 1 Korea stirs because robot employee 'self-destructs' Picture 1

According to a city council official sharing with AFP News Agency, before the accident, witnesses saw the robot "spinning in one place as if there was something there".

Currently, the company is investigating the cause of the fall, and parts of the robot have been collected and analyzed.

Korean media called this the country's first "suicide" robot case, raising questions about why it did that or whether the work was too much for the robot?

This robot started work in August 2023 and is one of the first robots to perform the job of city administrative staff. It has its own employee card and works from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with daily tasks such as transporting documents, promoting the city and providing information to local people.

Gumi City Council's robot can call elevators and move between floors on its own. After the accident, the Gumi City Council has no plans to use a second administrative staff robot.

South Korea is the country with the highest robot density in the world, with one industrial robot for every 10 employees, according to the International Federation of Robotics.