SOUTH KOREA: According to a Yonhap news agency report on Wednesday, a man in South Korea was crushed to death by a robot that was handling produce boxes.

In South Gyeongsang province, the man, a 40-year-old employee of a robotics company, was examining the robot’s sensor functions at a produce distribution centre.

Allegedly, as cited by police, the industrial robot that was moving boxes of bell peppers and setting them on a pallet appeared to have malfunctioned and mistakenly identified the man for a box.

Following that, the man’s face and chest were crushed when the robotic arm forced his upper body up against the conveyor belt.

He was reportedly taken to the hospital shortly after the incident but later died.