Already has

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/engineer-crushed-death-robotic-arm-22060190

tbh I was quite surprised there were not more reports but then equipment such as palletisers don't normally get called robots

AK - when I was still working for HSE I investigated a robot accident.

Not really markedly different to many machinery accidents.

The robots were enclosed in fencing with time delay interlock on the access gates.

The key for the time delay interlock failed, so somebody found a solution. Use the master key and tell the setter-operator to isolate and lock off if there was a blockage inside the enclosure.

But blockages were happening about every 25 minutes and eventually the setter-operator failed to isolate and lock off.

Went in and cleared the blockage which allowed the robots to restart. One of whem whacked him on the head. Not that badly injured.

About the same time, I went on a course on CNC and Robotics safety. Part of this was a tour of a car production plant. The course organiser told us that HSE was still investigating a robot accident at the plant.

Never did understand why any employer would be brave enough to invite in about 20 HSE Inspectors simultaneously but at this particular time, this particular employer was possibly regretting having done so.

However, after a brief introduction, the Plant Manager invited us all to walk around and ask whoever, what we wanted to ask.

Very impressive set up at first glance. There must have been £0.5m on guarding of all sorts.

But.......I leant on part of the perimeter fencing and it gave way at one of the corners.

Said Plant Manager sheepishly commented "I see that you found where our maintenance engineers get in if there is a problem". Whoops.

Ah, AK, one of those friendly new robots.

I reckon that if it can happen in South Korea, it could DEFINITELY happen here, quite possibly in one of those "fulfilment centers" [US spelling deliberate] where humans are easily replaced.

The EU will be busy tightening up the standards, but the UK could get a Brexit "benefit" by not agreeing to more "red tape" and a "burden on (a) business" that may or may not pay its fair share of taxes.

There will be lots of debates about which of these friendly robots are dangerous or not, just as in the 19th Century there were lots of arguments about e.g. how fast powered rollers needed to be before the inrunning nip between them constituted a "dangerous part of machinery".

So, there will be some of these robots picking items that are so small that the maximum pressure may be insufficicnt to be a reasonably foreseeable cause of human harm [EXCEPT perhaps in the child labour setting] but those picking up large packages where the necessary forces mean that if the sensors can't distinguish between a package and a human, the latter is at risk.