Paranoid android: South Korean civil servant robot 'commits suicide' after mysteriously 'circling in one spot as if something was there'

A civil servant robot working for a council in South Korea was found unresponsive after apparently throwing itself down a flight of stairs, with locals now mourning the country's first robot suicide.

Gumi City Council announced that the robot is now defunct after it fell down a two-metre staircase around 4pm last Thursday.

The 'Robot Supervisor' was found smashed up lying in the stairwell between the first and second floors of the council building, Gumi City said, with pictures showing the scene of the accident.

Witnesses saw the officer mysteriously 'circling in one spot as if something was there' before it occurred, but the exact cause of the fall is still being investigated, a city council official said.

'Pieces have been collected and will be analysed by the company,' the official said, adding that the robot had 'helped with daily document deliveries, city promotion, and delivered information' to local residents.

The robot supervisor had been made by Bear Robotics, a Californian robot-waiter startup

'It was officially a part of the city hall, one of us,' another official said. 'It worked diligently.'

Headlines in local media questioned the apparent robot suicide, saying: 'Why did the diligent civil officer do it?' or asking 'was work too hard' for the robot?

People online responded to the news asking: 'If the workload had been too much, would he have spun around for a long time and then rushed down the stairs?', while another said: 'I pray that scrap metal rests in peace'.

Appointed in August 2023, the robot was one of the first to be used in this manner in the city.

Made by Bear Robotics, a Californian robot-waiter startup, the robot worked from 9 am to 6pm and had its own civil service officer card. 

Unlike other robots, which can typically only use one floor, the Gumi City Council robot could call an elevator and move floors on its own.

The council said the robot had 'helped with daily document deliveries, city promotion, and delivered information' to local residents

South Korea is one of the most enthusiastic users of robots globally.

It has the highest robot density in the world, with one industrial robot for every 10 employees, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

Gumi city council says it is not planning to adopt a second robot officer at this time.