Bad/sad breaking news, a 22 year old tech was killed by a robot at VW when setting it up

A robot has killed a contractor at one of Volkswagen's production plants in Germany, a 22-year-old man was helping to put together the stationary robot that grabs and configures auto parts Monday when the machine grabbed and pushed him against a metal plate, the Associated Press reported.

The man died Monday at the plant in Baunatal, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Frankfurt, VW spokesman Heiko Hillwig said.

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.

The type of robot that crushed the employee is usually kept in a cage. The man was working on the robot inside the cage when he was grabbed.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/robot-kills-worker-at-volkswagen-plant-in-germany-1.2449237
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/robot-kills-man-volkswagen-plant-germany-32163980


Local newspaper Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA) reported that the man had been standing within the production area with the robot while others were standing in the outer area.

The robot had been the property of the Meissen-based firm for whom the man worked and the machine had not yet been handed over to Volkswagen, the car company told reporters

http://www.thelocal.de/20150701/assembly-robot-kills-worker-at-volkswagen