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Source: Global Times

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo article on August 19, original title: Robot dies from overwork Recently, a piece of news about "robot death from overwork" has sparked widespread discussion in South Korea. The "No. 1 robot civil servant" of the Gumi City Government in North Gyeongsang Province rolled down the stairs and was damaged. Netizens jokingly called it "robot death from overwork."

An accident happened less than a year after joining the company

It is reported that the robot was introduced in August 2023 and was responsible for delivering mail and administrative documents. The Gumi City Government not only issued it a civil servant certificate, but also held a formal appointment ceremony. However, this "robot civil servant" had an accident less than a year after joining the job. Many netizens joked from the perspective of workers: "It seems that the work is too hard."

In fact, this is not the first time that the discussion of "robot overwork" has appeared in the world. In March 2023, at the Logistics Expo held in Chicago, a video of Amazon's bipedal walking robot Digit suddenly falling to the ground after working for 20 hours continuously caused heated discussion. Although the robot only needs to be recharged to continue working, this scene still aroused people's sympathy. Some people lamented: "If robots fall down due to overwork, how hard it must be for humans."

Man who "kicked robot dog" asked to apologize

In addition to the problem of "overwork", disputes over "robot abuse" also occur from time to time. In 2015, a test video released by the American robotics company Boston Dynamics showed an engineer kicking the quadruped robot Spot, which triggered public discussion on robot rights.

In 2023, a video of a drunk Australian woman kicking a robot dog, Stampy, went viral online, with many netizens demanding an apology from the woman. In South Korea, a representative of an opposition party also caused controversy when he pushed down a four-legged walking robot at a robot expo.

Funeral held for pet robot dog

What is even more surprising is that in Japan, there is even a phenomenon of holding funerals for pet robot dogs AIBO. AIBO is a pet robot launched by Sony in 1999. A total of about 150,000 units were sold. It was discontinued in 2006, and now the repair service has been suspended, which has disappointed AIBO owners. For many lonely elderly people, AIBO is like a family member. A former Sony engineer later set up a special repair company to accept donations of faulty AIBOs all over Japan and use these parts to repair other AIBOs. In recent years, a Japanese temple has also held a collective funeral for AIBOs that cannot be started before dismantling them. This move is not only for AIBO, but also to comfort those who rely on AIBO to get through their lonely time.

At the same time, the popularity of household robots and smart home appliances has also prompted people to anthropomorphize them more and more. Many housewives affectionately call sweeping robots, dishwasher robots, dryers, etc. "our aunties" because these devices can help their owners do housework. (Author Jiang Jingxi, Lin Longyou translation)