BERLIN – A robot has killed a contractor at one of Volkswagen’s production plants in Germany, the automaker said Wednesday.
The man died Monday at the plant in Baunatal, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Frankfurt, VW spokesman Heiko Hillwig said.
The 22-year-old was part of a team that was setting up the stationary robot when it grabbed and crushed him against a metal plate, Hillwig said.
Get breaking National news
He said initial conclusions indicate that human error was to blame, rather than a problem with the robot, which can be programmed to perform various tasks in the assembly process. He said it normally operates within a confined area at the plant, grabbing auto parts and manipulating them.
- Google hit with US$1B fine as EU says app store, search stifles competition
- OpenAI says its AI hacked another company in ‘unprecedented cyber incident’
- AI data centres have 4 in 5 Albertans concerned over environment, electricity costs: Poll
- Peterborough music community divided over AI use for concert posters
Another contractor was present when the incident occurred, but wasn’t harmed, Hillwig said. He declined to give any more details about the case, citing an ongoing investigation.
German news agency dpa reported that prosecutors were considering whether to bring charges, and if so, against whom.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.