Robot in South Korea throws itself down some stairs, ‘was it suicide?’ netizens ask

Dubai: South Korea's foray into robot co-workers recently took a dramatic turn – an administrative robot at Gumi City Council threw itself down a staircase.

The robot was found unresponsive after the tumble, according to a news report by the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Local media and social media are abuzz with questions, calling it the country's "first robot suicide".

According to the AFP report, the robot, deployed in August 2023 by the Gumi City Council, was a diligent worker, assisting with daily tasks like document delivery and public information.

Gumi City Council colleagues found the robot unresponsive after having apparently fallen down a two-meter (six-and-a-half foot) staircase last week.

Witnesses reported unusual behaviour before the incident, with the robot circling in one spot "as if something was there”.

The cause of the fall remains under investigation, a city council official told AFP.

"Pieces have been collected and will be analysed by the company," the official said, adding that the robot had "helped with daily document deliveries, city promotion, and delivered information" to local residents.

"It was officially a part of the city hall, one of us," another official said. "It worked diligently."

Headlines in local media questioned the apparent robot suicide, saying: "Why did the diligent civil officer do it?" or asking "Was work too hard" for the robot?

Netizens are asking whether this was a tragic accident or something more serious?

Made by Bear Robotics, a Californian robot-waiter startup, the robot worked from 9 am to 6 pm and had its own civil service officer card. The robot was one of the first to be used in this manner in the city.

Unlike other robots, which can typically only use one floor, the Gumi City Council robot could call an elevator and move floors on its own.

Twitter user @xrostfred wrote: “No breaks or vacations, a robot is a machine but it also needs rest. Even a robot could not handle the work stress.”

South Korea, a global leader in robotics, has the highest robot density in the world, with one industrial robot for every 10 employees, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

Gumi city council is currently not planning to adopt a second robot officer at this moment, it told AFP.