A Volkswagen spokesperson has confirmed that a man died on Monday after suffering severe injuries at a plant in Baunatal, north of Frankfurt.
The 22-year-old was setting up a stationary robot when it grabbed him and crushed his chest against a metal plate.
Despite best efforts to resuscitate the unnamed man, he later died in hospital.
Heiko Hillwig, a VW representative, explained that the man was setting the robot- which grabs and manipulates auto parts- up inside a metal safety cage when the incident happened.
Hillwig said human error was most likely to blame, adding:
"Then we'll see if — and if so, against whom — charges are to be made," a spokesman for the prosecutor's office told the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
The first person to be killed by a robot was in 1979 when 25-year-old Ford Motor assembly line worker Robert Williams was slammed by a mechanical arm.
*stock images used throughout