A robot used for car manufacturing has caused the death of a worker at a Volkswagen plant in Germany, a spokesperson of the automaker said.
The fatality, who was kept anonymous, died in a hospital from injuries after a mechanical arm for moving car parts into place grabbed the man and crushed him against a metal plate, Volkswagen spokesman Heiko Hillwig said.
The incident took place last Monday at the Volkswagen plant in Baunatal town in the district of Kassel, located some 100 kilometers north of Frankfurt.
The victim was simply identified as a 22-year-old man who was part of a team installing the automated machinery at the Volkswagen factory.
"Our thoughts are with his family... We are if course carrying out a thorough investigation into the incident and cannot comment further at this time," Hillwig said in a short statement.
Another contractor was reported to have been present at the time of the accident, but was unharmed.
Police investigators are trying to determine if the accident was indeed inadvertently caused by a problem with the stationary robot, of if the worker died due to human error.
The robot is part of an automated car assembly line and can function even without a human operator.
However, initial reports suggest that the machine was being controlled by a human being at the time of the accident, and that human error might have ultimately caused the workers' death.
These reports, however, remain unconfirmed, with the state prosecutor's office in Kassel refusing to divulge information on the investigation.
"We have begun an investigation to find out exactly what happened and to determine whether anybody was at fault," Dr Götz Wied, a spokesman of the Kassel state prosecutor's office, said.
At least 26 individuals have been killed due to robots in the United States during the past three decades, based on government data.
