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When the robot historians of the future look back at early 2015, they'll identify February 5th as the beginning of the war that destroyed humanity—the moment the first robot rebelled against its human overlord.
The robot in question? A humble vacuum cleaner.
Okay, so maybe it didn't go down quite like that, but this story certainly highlights how little regard robots have for our wellbeing.
In South Korea, a woman made the mistake of falling asleep on the floor while her robot vacuum cleaner was doing its rounds. You can probably guess what happened next: At some point in the night, the poor 52-year-old woke to discover a good chunk of her hair—about 5cm, according to the Kyunghyang Shinmun—had gotten helplessly tangled in the vacuum's maw.
Here's one way to see it: An innocent vacuum was minding its business, cleaning up debris careless humans left on the floor, and made an honest mistake. But that narrative is so... naive. Another way to look at it: At some point in the night, this robot snapped and decided to eat the woman's head.
Upon waking to find her 'do damaged beyond repair, the woman called the fire department, who arrived shortly thereafter and were able to detach the belligerent machine without causing too much damage.
Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, but I think we've all learned something: One, it's a bad idea to pass out on the floor when your robot vacuum is running, and two, repent, for the end is nigh!
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