Robot Civil Servant’s Tragic Fall Sparks Debate in South Korea
In an unexpected and tragic incident, a robot civil servant working for the Gumi City Council in South Korea has ignited a national debate following what many are calling the country’s first “robot suicide.” The incident occurred last Thursday at around 4 pm when the ‘Robot Supervisor’ was discovered at the bottom of a stairwell in the council building. Witnesses reported seeing the robot behaving unusually, “circling in one spot as if something was there,” before its fall.
Employed since August 2023, the robot was a versatile worker, handling tasks from delivering documents and promoting the city to providing information to residents. Developed by Bear Robotics, a startup known for creating robot waiters, this robot had a broader range of duties than its restaurant counterparts. It worked tirelessly from 9 am to 6 pm, moving between floors using elevators, a rare capability of its kind. Following the incident, city council officials collected the shattered pieces for analysis, leaving the cause of the fall unclear.
The robot’s sudden demise has stirred diverse reactions in local media and online forums. Some people are questioning whether the robot was overworked, while others ponder the broader implications of integrating robots into everyday human tasks. For now, the Gumi City Council has decided not to replace their fallen mechanical colleague, pausing their robot adoption plans and prompting a reconsideration of the future of robots in South Korea’s automation-enthusiastic society.
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