A man has been crushed to death by a robot in South Korea after it failed to distinguish him from the boxes of food it was serving, BBC News reported on Wednesday evening.
The incident occurred when the man, a 40-year-old company employee, was inspecting the robot.
A robot arm, confusing the man with a box of groceries, grabbed him and pushed his body onto a conveyor belt, crushing his face and chest, South Korean news agency Yonhap was quoted as saying.
He was taken to hospital but later died. According to Yonhap, the robot was responsible for lifting boxes of pepper and transferring them to pallets.
The man was checking the operation of the robot's sensors ahead of its test at a pepper mill in South Gyeongsang province, scheduled for November 8, the agency added, citing police.
The test was scheduled for November 6 but was pushed forward by two days due to problems with the robot's sensor.
The man, an employee from the company that made the robotic arm, was inspecting the machine at midnight on Wednesday when it broke down.
In a statement after the incident, an official from the Donggoseong Export Agricultural Complex, which owns the factory, called for a "proper and safe" system to be put in place.
In March, a 50-year-old South Korean man suffered serious injuries after being trapped by a robot while working at an auto parts factory.
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