Tragedy! Industrial robot failure caused the death of an employee

According to Yonhap News Agency, an industrial robot accident occurred at a distribution center in South Korea, resulting in the death of a technical employee of a robot company.

South Korean police disclosed to the public that the man was a 40-year-old employee of a robot company. The agricultural product distribution center where the incident occurred was their customer. At the time, the robot technician was checking the operation of the robot's sensors .

During the process, the industrial robot lifted the box filled with green peppers and placed it on the conveyor belt. Due to a malfunction, the robot mistook the technician for the box and the robotic arm pushed the man's upper body onto the conveyor belt, crushing his face and chest. The man was subsequently taken to the hospital, but unfortunately died.

It was revealed that the employee had originally planned to conduct a sensor inspection of the pepper sorting plant robot before trial operation on November 6, but the plan was postponed for two days due to reports of problems with the robot's sensors. On the day of the inspection, the robot's sensors malfunctioned during the test run, leading to the tragedy.

Earlier this year, an industrial robot failure also occurred in a South Korean auto parts factory. A Korean man in his 50s was trapped by a running robot while working in the workshop, causing him to be seriously injured. Fortunately, the accident did not cause any death.

The safety of industrial robots needs to be addressed urgently. According to a study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, at least 41 people were killed by industrial robots in the United States between 1992 and 2017. In 2015, an accident caused by the misoperation of an industrial robot was also reported at the Volkswagen factory in Germany. A 22-year-old operator accidentally started the industrial robot without taking safety precautions. The robot grabbed the victim's chest and squeezed him against a metal plate, eventually killing him.

There have also been many industrial robot accidents in China. It was reported that in a smelter, the main operator of the robotic arm of the stacking operation line entered the operating area of ​​the automatic ingot stacking machine through an unclosed isolation fence safety door when the automatic ingot stacking machine was not shut down, and cleaned the site within the operating radius of the robotic arm, which caused the accident.

After investigation, it was found that the cause of the accident was that when the operator walked to the ingot picking position of the ingot stacking machine and the interval between the mechanical arm, the ingot lifting device received the zinc ingot transmitted by the water-cooling chain, and the signal was transmitted to the mechanical arm, which automatically rotated to pick up the ingot, instantly pushing the employee down on the ingot lifting device, and the zinc ingot grabbing fixture pressed against his left chest.

The bloody accident sounded the alarm. The use of industrial robots must strictly comply with operating specifications to avoid irreversible injuries caused by human errors. At the same time, robot manufacturers need to enhance product safety, such as adding force sensors or visual sensors, so that when an accident occurs, they can prevent the accident from causing continuous damage as quickly as possible.