Worker at Volkswagen plant killed in robot accident

The fatality comes as concerns spread about the effects of automation, including long-range fears about whether robots can be controlled when they become more intelligent than humans. However, experts said that the accident at VW appeared to have more in common with industrial accidents that have been familiar for years, rather than the newer types of robotics that have made the headlines.

Deaths in factories caused by automated equipment date back decades, starting with an accident on an automobile assembly line in the 1970s, said Paul Saffo, a futurist in a Silicon Valley. “It wasn’t the first time – but timing is everything,” he said, since the accident has occurred at a time when “people are getting their knickers in a twist about ‘the robots taking our jobs’.”

Robot-related fatalities are rare in western production plants as heavy robots are kept behind safety cages to prevent accidental contact with humans.

In this incident, the contractor was standing inside the safety cage when the accident occurred. A second employee was outside the cage and was unharmed. VW said the robot did not suffer a technical defect. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into how the accident occurred.

VW said the machine was not one of the new generation of lightweight collaborative robots that car manufacturers are starting to install to work alongside workers on the production line.

Fatality rates in manufacturing are below the average for the economy as a whole, and have been falling as automation has increased, in both Europe and the US.

There were 2.1 fatal injuries for every 1m hours worked in manufacturing in the US in 2013, down from 2.7 in 2006. In the transport equipment industry, the fatality rate was just 0.9 per 1m hours worked, according to US government data.

It is about eight times more dangerous to work in a bar in the US than in manufacturing: the fatality rate there was 16.4 deaths per 1m hours worked.

The car industry has by far the highest density of robots, but such automation is increasing rapidly in other industries such as electronics and healthcare as their cost falls and capabilities increase.

Collaborative robots do not have a safety cage but their force and speed can be limited by the way they are built. They also have sensors to detect human movement. Some are also designed to stop if a human gets too close.

VW said last year it planned to use more robots to cope with a shortage of new workers as baby boomers retire in coming years.

The company said these robots would take over monotonous tasks, while humans would focus on more highly skilled jobs.