Factory automation, lithium batteries present new fire safety challenges

The dayslong fire at a Coupang logistics center in Incheon has highlighted growing fire safety challenges, as factories and warehouses become increasingly automated and reliant on lithium-ion battery-powered robots that could cause a massive explosion when heated.

This new industrial environment is raising concerns that existing safety standards may not be keeping pace.

Fire officials said one of their top priorities during efforts to contain the blaze at the site was preventing flames from spreading from the sixth floor, where the fire began, to the fifth floor, where hundreds of lithium-ion battery-powered warehouse robots were housed.

They estimated the batteries had a combined capacity roughly equivalent to those used in about 20 electric vehicles (EVs).

The fire, which broke out on Saturday, was brought under initial control after about 61 hours without spreading significantly to the fifth floor and was fully extinguished on Wednesday.

The spread of physical artificial intelligence (AI) is expanding the deployment of autonomous mobile robots, automated guided vehicles and automated ...