Malfunction or Breakdown? Robot's 'Suicide' in South Korea Sparks Row Over Workload

South Korea: In a surprising event, a robot civil servant working in South Korea has apparently “committed suicide”. The robot employed at South Korea’s Gumi City Council has announced that its administrative officer robot has apparently “dropped dead”.

According to reports, the city council is speculating if the now-defunct robot’s demise was, in fact, an act of suicide as an official caught the robot “circling in one spot as if something was there” before the tragedy. The pieces of the shattered robot have been collected for analysis. The cause of the fall remains unclear, as per officials. 

The robot, dubbed as 'Robot Supervisor,' was discovered in a heap between the first and second floors of the council building. It was found lying at the bottom of a stairwell. 

Bear Robotics, a California-based startup renowned for its creation of robot waiters, developed the robot. However, unlike those used in restaurants, the Gumi City Council robot had a significantly wider scope of responsibilities. This initiative marked a pioneering effort in South Korea, a country recognized for its high density of robots, with one industrial robot for every ten employees, as reported by the International Federation of Robotics.

The incident has sparked a nationwide debate in South Korea about the workload robot was facing. 

Social media is buzzing with discussions surrounding the reported "suicide" of the robot, sparking debates about the pressures humans encounter at work.

“A robot in South Korea 'committed suicide' because of too much work. This shows just how much pressure humans deal with every day and still keep going,” a user posted on X.  

The robot was in service from August 2023. It delivered documents and promoted the city to providing information to residents, the robot was a fixture in the city hall, complete with its own civil service officer card. The robot used to work from 9 am to 6 pm without breaks, tirelessly moving between floors using elevators.