Shocking video footage capturing the tragic moment a robotic arm fatally crushed a worker at a factory in Thailand was released today.
The heartbreaking incident occurred on March 27 at the Vandapac factory located in Thailand’s Chonburi province.
The unsuspecting worker appeared to be laying out sheets of fabric when his arm came down forcefully and pinned him against a bench.
Disturbing CCTV footage shows how the victim was left incapacitated under the huge metal device as a colleague continued to work across the room, apparently unaware of the object. the catastrophe is unfolding right behind him.
Emergency services responded quickly after the alarm was finally raised, releasing the man before administering critical aid and rushing him to Chonburi Hospital.
But he was pronounced dead on arrival, after suffering major trauma.
The unsuspecting worker appeared to be laying out sheets of fabric when his arm came down forcefully and pinned him against a bench.
Disturbing CCTV footage shows how the victim was left incapacitated under the huge metal device as a colleague continued to work across the room, seemingly oblivious to the disaster unfolding just behind him.
Factory officials said the robot arm was operating within normal parameters and attributed the accident to an error in judgment by the worker.
They suggested he was aware of the robot arm’s capabilities and had mistakenly maneuvered underneath it, refusing to take responsibility for the incident.
Expressing few details, an official told local media: “We are no longer providing information.
“Employees accept responsibility for any accidents occurring during their work.”
Vandapac, a long-standing manufacturer specializing in plastic products for various industries, has been in business for several decades and employs more than 1,800 people at its facilities in Samut Prakan province and the city’s Chonburi industrial zone of Amata.
The shocking incident comes just months after another robot killed a worker in South Korea because it couldn’t differentiate it from a box of vegetables.
The victim, an employee in his 40s at a robotics company, was checking the machine sensor at an agricultural products distribution center in South Gyeongsang during a routine inspection in November.
But the machine, which was lifting cans of peppers onto a pallet, grabbed the man with its arm and pushed him against the conveyor belt, crushing his face and chest.
The robot malfunctioned and identified the man as a box, police sources said.
The victim was taken to hospital but later died, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The police then opened an investigation against those responsible for security at the site for possible negligence in their duties.
An official from the Donggoseong Agricultural Export Complex, which owns the factory, called for an “accurate and safe” system in a statement after the incident.
The victim should have reported for tests initially scheduled for November 6, but these were pushed back two days due to reported problems with the robot’s sensor.
The illustrative image shows a robot arm used in a factory in Japan
A chess-playing robot (pictured) broke a child’s finger during an international tournament in Moscow last July, with the incident captured on CCTV footage.
Last July, footage emerged of a chess-playing android breaking a child’s finger during a match in Russia.
The robot grabbed the seven-year-old boy’s finger during the Moscow Open because he was confused by its rapid movements, Russian media reported.
Sergey Lazarev, vice president of the Russian Chess Federation, said the child had violated “some safety rules” by acting too early.
Christopher Atkeson, a robotics expert at Carnegie Mellon University, told MailOnline: ‘Robots have limited sensing and therefore limited awareness of what is happening around them.
“I suspect the chess robot had no ears and its vision system was blind to anything other than chessboards and pieces.”