South Korea: Robot Commits Suicide Due to Heavy Workload
South Korea’s Gumi City Council robot employee named “Robot Supervisor” allegedly committed suicide on 4th July 2024 because of being overburdened with work.
You must have heard of human beings committing suicide. But have you ever heard of a robot committing suicide? In a first, a robot committed suicide in South Korea. The story goes something like this...
South Korea has the highest robot density in the world. According to the International Federation of Robotics, South Korea has one industrial robot for every ten employees.
Reports say that the Gumi City Council in South Korea deployed its first robot named the "Robot Supervisor" in its building in August 2023. This "Robot Supervisor" was developed by a startup from California called Bear Robotics, which is known for creating robot waiters.
But unlike the waiter robots, the Gumi City Council robot had a much broader range of duties. It was responsible for various tasks like delivering documents, reminding workers about their tasks, helping with city promotions, and providing information to visitors. The robot worked tirelessly from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, traveling independently between floors and even calling elevators without any external assistance. It even had a civil service officer card, making it an official employee of the Gumi City Council.
On 4th July 2024, the city council officials found the robot crashed in pieces at the mid-landing of the staircase between the 1st and 2nd floors of the council building at around 4 pm. Several employees claimed to have seen the robot behaving strangely before the incident, like "circling in one spot as if something was there."
The city council officials immediately collected the robot's pieces and sent them for forensic testing. While the true cause of the robot’s crash is unknown, this incident has sparked a debate about the robot’s workload and its consequences.
Locals have made the incident a trending topic on social media, sharing mixed emotions and asking if the robot supervisor was asked to work too hard. Some even joked about it on X (Twitter). One user wrote, “Robot workers need workers' unions to raise their voice.” Another user wrote, “No breaks, no vacations, no benefits. Robots need a union.”
The Gumi City Council has decided not to replace the Robot Supervisor for now and has paused their robot implementation plans until the cause of the crash is known. Did the robot supervisor throw itself down the stairs to commit suicide or was it a technical malfunction? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
