VOA科学技术2023 韩国工业机器人故障致工人死亡（在线收听）

Industrial Robot Crushes Worker in South Korea

韩国工业机器人故障致工人死亡

South Korean police said Thursday an industrial robot had crushed a worker to death at a vegetable processing center.

韩国警方星期四说，蔬菜加工中心的一个工业机器人将一名工人挤压致死。

The male worker suffered severe head and chest injuries after the robot's arms pushed his body against a conveyor belt used to move box containers. The man was treated at a hospital in the southern county of Goseong, but died of his injuries.

这个机器人的机械臂将这名男性工人的身体推到用于移动箱子的传送带上，导致其头部和胸部严重受伤。这名男子在南部高城县的一家医院接受治疗，但因伤势过重死亡。

Police said early evidence suggested human error was more likely to blame than problems with the robot itself. But investigators were looking into whether the machine was defective or incorrectly designed. The robot was being used to lift boxes filled with vegetables.

警方表示，早期证据表明，与机器人本身的问题相比，人为失误更可能是罪魁祸首。但调查人员正在调查这台机器是有缺陷还是设计错误。该机器人被用于举起装满蔬菜的箱子。

Police said the victim of the accident was an employee of a company that deploys industrial robots to businesses. He was sent to the processing center to examine whether the machine was working correctly.

警方表示，事故受害者是一家为企业部署工业机器人的公司的员工。他被派往该加工中心检查机器是否正常工作。

A police official who spoke to The Associated Press (AP) said investigators were looking into the possibility that the robot had misidentified the worker as a box. The machine's sensors are designed to identify boxes. Security video suggested the man had moved near the robot with a box in his hands and this could have caused the machine's reaction, the official said.

一名警方官员在接受美联社采访时表示，调查人员正在调查机器人是否将工人误认为盒子。机器的传感器设计用于识别箱子。这位官员说，安全录像显示，这名男子手里拿着一个盒子靠近机器人，这可能会引起机器做出反应。

The machine that caused the death was one of two used at the center to lift and transport boxes loaded with vegetables to be exported to other Asian nations. Such robots are common in South Korean agricultural communities.

造成死亡的机器是该中心用来举起和运输出口到其他亚洲国家的蔬菜箱的两台机器之一。这种机器人在韩国农业社区很常见。

A police investigator told the AP the machine was not an "artificial intelligence-powered robot," but a device designed to just lift and place boxes. He said police were working with related agencies to find out whether the machine had safety issues.

一名警方调查员告诉美联社，这台机器不是“人工智能驱动的机器人”，而是一种设计用于举起和放置箱子的设备。他说，警方正在与相关机构合作，以查明这台机器是否存在安全问题。

The International Federation of Robotics, based in Germany, estimated South Korea had 1,000 industrial robots per 10,000 employees in 2021. This represents the highest density of industrial robots in the world. Many of these robots are used in manufacturing factories such as electronics and auto-making.

总部位于德国的国际机器人联合会估计，2021年韩国每10000名员工拥有1000台工业机器人。这是世界上密度最高的工业机器人。这些机器人中的许多被用于制造工厂，如电子产品和汽车制造。

South Korea has had other industrial robot accidents in recent years. In March, a manufacturing robot crushed and seriously injured a worker who was examining it at an auto parts factory in Gunsan. And in 2022, a robot working near a conveyor belt crushed a worker to death at a milk factory south of the capital Seoul.

近年来，韩国还发生了其他工业机器人事故。今年3月，群山一家汽车零部件工厂的一台制造机器人挤压并重伤了一名正在检修的工人。2022年，在首都首尔南部的一家牛奶厂，一个在传送带附近工作的机器人将一名工人挤压致死。