Robot kills man at German Volkswagen plant

Human error official cause of accident

A 22-year-old man has been crushed by a robot arm at a Volkswagen production plant in Germany.

The stationary robot, which is designed to grab car parts and configure or otherwise manipulate them, instead picked up the contractor, pushing him against a metal plate and crushing him. The man later died from his injuries, and was confirmed dead on Monday 29 June at the plant itself, which is in the town of Baunatal, Hesse, just north of Frankfurt.

The death was confirmed by Volkswagen spokesperson Heiko Hillwig, who also revealed that the accident was witnessed by another contractor, who was not harmed.

Hillwig added that the robot arm usually operates within a confined area in the plant, but refused to give more details, citing an ongoing investigation.

It has been further reported that prosecutors have been considering whether to bring charges, but it is unclear against whom charges may be made. According to Volkswagen, the contractor's death was a result of "human error".

The incident isn't the first time humans have been killed by robotic arms - Trevor Allen, a 63-year-old employee of Japan Tobacco International was killed in 2013 when part of a robotic arm he was fixing fell on him in a plant in Ireland. However, this was not a direct result of the arm's actions, as appears to be the case with the Volkswagen case.

Typically, articulated production arms operate by storing a series of positions in memory and executing the commands at preset times. For example, a "pick and place" program may be executed after a move command. It is therefore unlikely that any form of artificial intelligence was being demonstrated by the arm, but more details are sure to emerge as the case continues.