South Korea’s city council says its robot administrator killed himself by jumping down a flight of stairs last week — local media is now mourning the loss as the country’s first «suicidal robot».
According to witnesses, the robot had been circling in one place for some time before jumping, indicating that something had gone wrong, but the circumstances of the incident are still under investigation.
The robot was one of the first such creations to be hired by the mayor’s office — since August 2023, it has been helping employees with daily document delivery, advertising, and providing information to local residents.
«Officially, he was part of the mayor’s office, one of us. And he worked very hard,» one of the officials told local media (via channelnewsasia).
The robot was created by Bear Robotics, had its own civil servant card, and worked standard hours from 9:00 to 18:00. Unlike other similar robots, this one served several floors at once and could call an elevator to get to them on its own.
South Korea is one of the most robotic countries in the world. According to the International Federation of Robotics, there is one industrial robot for every 10 workers.
The Gumi City Council currently has no plans to hire a second robot administrator, according to AFP.
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