'Robot suicide': No plans to introduce a new robot, says city council

SEOUL: After a surprising incident labelled as a 'robot suicide' in South Korea, the authorities have temporarily abandoned the move to introduce a new robot. An investigation is underway into the rather unique case of the 'death' of the robot civil servant .

On June 27, a robot working for the Gumi City Council in South Korea was found unresponsive at the bottom of a two-meter staircase.

Footage also emerged of the robot behaving strangely and circling in 'one spot as if something was there' before it fell. Later, the news went viral on social media as if the robot jumped down and committed 'suicide' due to overwork.

Experts stated that the robot fell due to a technical fault. The Gumi City Council said the move for the new robot has been temporarily halted as investigations to determine the reason for robot's demise is ongoing. The broken parts of the robot were removed for testing. Misalignment, sensor failure, programming virus, etc. are said to be the likely reasons for failure.