On Wednesday, an industrial robot is said to have mistaken a 40-year-old South Korean citizen for boxes of vegetables it was packaging, resulting in his crushing death.

According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, the man was inspecting the robotic arm's sensor at a nearby factory when the device mistook him for a box of bell peppers.

The deceased, a worker for a robotics company, had been evaluating the robot's effectiveness through operational tests when its sensor stopped working, requiring him to give it a closer look.


His face and chest were allegedly crushed when it pushed his body onto a conveyor belt.

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After being taken to the hospital quickly, he passed away from his wounds.

Since then, local law enforcement agencies have begun looking into potential safety concerns and technical flaws with the robotic arm.