Industrial robots are intended to make factories work more quickly and efficiently, but they can also become extremely hazardous if anything goes wrong. At present, modern machines are fitted with sensors, emergency stop mechanisms, and a number of safety measures. In contrast, the technology was far more basic decades ago.It became painfully clear when a factory worker in Japan was killed by an industrial robot while he was attempting to repair a faulty machine.Kenji Urada, who was 37 and worked at a plant of Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Akashi, was handling a robotic arm which was used for processing automobile parts. The machine was meant to function in a restricted area during which workers were normally not allowed to enter.The robot was surrounded by a wire fence in order to keep the employees from coming into contact with its moving parts, and the fence was linked to a safety switch which was intended to stop the machine when the barrier was opened.The system was intended to prevent people from coming into danger.Unfortunately, Urada chose to climb over the fence as he was repairing the robot which was not working properly.It was said that he had switched the machine over to manual mode since he thought this would make it safe to carry out work on it. However, when he went into the enclosed area he seems to have pressed the wrong control and thus activated the robot.The machine responded almost at once.The robotic arm moved towards Urada with sufficient force to hold him up against another item of industrial equipment, so that he was trapped between two heavy pieces of machinery, one of which was used for cutting gears.The robot could not tell that a person was in its way. Unlike a great many modern industrial robots, it lacked advanced sensors which enabled it to detect a human and then stop moving automatically.Other workers saw what was going on, but stopping the machine wasn’t as easy as just pressing a button; they were said to have had difficulty working out how to switch it off while Urada was still trapped.When the robot had finally been stopped, Urada was already suffering fatal injuries.It is difficult to determine the exact circumstances of his death since detailed information from the autopsy is not easily obtained. The reports have stated that the injuries were caused by crushing or stabbing trauma from the machinery.The tragedy also revealed flaws in the method used to protect industrial robots.Following the accident, the factory introduced further safety measures. The barriers surrounding the other robotic systems were made taller and had doors linked to automatic shutoff devices which were intended to stop the machines from working when a person entered the restricted area.The event also brought about greater attention to the necessity of having stronger safety standards in relation to industrial robots.Machines will not understand fear, pain, or the presence of a human being unless they have been deliberately designed to detect them, for example, a robotic arm can repeat the same movement continuously with great force even if a person by accident walks straight into its way.That is the reason why modern industrial facilities employ a number of layers of protection, physical barriers, interlocks, emergency stops, sensors, lockout procedures, and worker training are all designed to ensure that a single error does not result in a fatal outcome.For Urada a decision that at first seemed minor had terrible consequences, it had started out as an effort to repair a machine and had ended with him being trapped in the safety zone which had been constructed to keep the workers away from it.The accident served as an early warning regarding just how dangerous industrial automation could become if proper safeguards were not in place.Unlike the robots featured in science fiction films, this machine did not have to possess intelligence or any intentions in order to kill a person; it only needed to carry out its duty.