First case of robot suicide: Overworked South Korean droid throws itself down stairs

Made by Bear Robotics, a California-based company, city council officials quickly collected the pieces of the shattered robot for analysis and sent it to the company, but the reason behind its erratic behaviour still remains unclear.

🚨 The world records the first case of robot suicide.

South Korea 🇰🇷

An investigation has started into a robot ‘suicide.’ The robot was seen idle at the bottom of some stairs, and later, witnesses saw it spinning on top of a building before falling off.

The robot worked in a… pic.twitter.com/aAmyRmgYSo

— Tom Valentino (@TomValentinoo) June 28, 2024

The robot even had an employee card and worked from 9 am to 4 pm, just like other employees. But unlike most robots that are limited to a single floor, this one could easily navigate between floors and even call the elevator without any external assistance.

According to a Gumi city official, the robot “helped with daily document deliveries, city promotion, and delivered information” to residents and “was officially part of the city hall.” Local media was quick to pick up the story and published headlines asking if the robot’s workload had to do anything with its malfunction.

Appointed in August last year, Robot Supervisor was one of the first of its kind to be used in the city. The International Federation of Robotics says that South Korea has one of the highest robot densities in the world, with one industrial robot for every ten human employees. When asked if the city council will adopt another robot, the authority said that there is currently no plan to replace the “demised” Robot Supervisor.

This is not the first time a robot has met an untimely end. In 2017, a security robot named Steve working in Washington, DC reportedly “died by suicide” by drowning in a fountain. However, on further investigation, it was found out that the robot has dived in the water body after skidding on a loose brick surface.