I Robot gets Wires Crossed & Kills 22-year-old VW Plant Worker inGermany

by Elizabeth Nelson

Everyone believes that, when they go to work they will be safe and get home that night, unless they have a dangerous career like a fireman or policeman then they understand that they have a challenging and dangerous job.  However, what happened earlier this week, at the VW plant in  Baunatal Germany, outside Franfurt, was straight out of the movie I Robot.

A stationary programmed plant production robot, used to grab and test parts, grabbed and crushed a 22-year-old against a metal plate, in front of witnesses. A robot has killed a contractor at one of Volkswagen’s production plants in Germany, the automaker has said.

The man died on Monday at the plant in Baunatal, about 100km (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.

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.  Read more Guardian

Why is Germany's I Robot malfunction relevant to the proud USA? How many of you are watching the squawking of the uneducated and unmotivated, wanting the minimum wage raised to $15 for flipping burgers?  What these people don't understand, this robot was on the production line because it was more efficient than a human, it never called in sick, it didn't take lunch breaks, it never went on vacation, didn't require medical insurance and it never, "demanded a wage increase" or its own way.

Guess what, folks, they make robots that prepare food.  Do we think fast food joints won't six sigma and modernize their line, if Obama "forces" them to increase their minimum wage, which will in turn increase the product price?  China is already doing this very thing. They have robots replacing the bulk of their employees in their restaurant.

I find the fast food demand for a living wage slightly amusing, because a job "flipping burgers" was always used as a fore-shadowing warning by my parents and a motivation point to go to college and find a career that I enjoyed.  Sure, fast food is a "job" to use as a "means to an end." It's not supposed to be an END to an END, a motivation killer and a career stumbling block.