Robot crushes 20-year-old worker to death at car parts supplier’s facility, US feds say

In June 2016, Elsea and three co-workers went inside the Cusseta facility’s robotic cell along an assembly line to clear a sensor fault, officials said. That was when a robot inside the cell turned on and crushed her, according to the US Department of Labor. — Photo by Simon Kadula on Unsplash

A robot at a Hyundai and Kia supplier’s facility suddenly restarted and crushed a 20-year-old employee to death, US federal officials said.

Now the car parts supplier, AJIN USA, will pay over US$1.3mil in penalties more than six years after the woman died at the company’s facility in Cusseta, Alabama, according to the US Department of Labor.