Robots are no laughing matter in South Korea. An investigation has been launched by the Gumi City Hall after a robot employed as a municipal official was found lying motionless at the bottom of a staircase around 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 20. According to the city hall, which is taking the matter very seriously, the android appears to have thrown itself from the top of a staircase.
For almost a year, this civil servant robot had been helping residents of the municipality of Gumi, in the center of the country, to carry out administrative tasks, a manager of the municipal team explained to AFP.
Just before its fall, witnesses saw the robot “turning in circles as if something was there”, added the official, according to which the cause of the incident is under investigation to determine the reasons for this fall. “Parts have been collected and will be analyzed” by the company that designed it, he added. “He was officially part of the town hall, he was one of us,” lamented another official.
A workload too high for the robot?
Developed by the Californian company Bear Robotics, the robot had everything of an employee like any other since his appointment in August 2023. He worked from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and even had his own public service agent card. Unlike other androids confined to a single level, he could call the elevator and move from one floor to another.
The local press seized on the subject, lamenting the first robot “suicide” in the country, with some headlines asking on the front page, “why this hardworking civil servant acted in this way” or whether “the job was too hard for the robot? »
South Korea is one of the countries keen on robotics. It has the highest density of robots in the world, with one android for every ten employees, according to the International Federation of Robotics. Gumi City Council has said it is not currently considering adopting a second robot officer.
