16. The first known human victim of a robot, Robert Williams was killed after an industrial accident at the Ford Motor Company’s plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, in January 1979
An American factory worker employed at the Ford Motor Company’s Flat Rock Casting Plant in the eponymous town in Michigan, Robert Williams became the first known human to be killed by a robot after an industrial accident on January 25, 1979. One of three operators of the parts retrieval system – a five-story robot built by the Unit Handling Systems division of Litton Industries – the machine was designed with the intent of fetching castings from storage shelves at the plant. Equipped with one-ton transfer vehicles possessing mechanical arms, following an inaccurate reading on inventory Williams was forced to climb the racks to retrieve the parts manually.
Clambering into the third level of the storage rack, Williams was suddenly struck from behind and crushed by one of the transfer vehicles. Believed to have been killed instantly, his body remained on the shelf for more than thirty minutes until his co-workers discovered it after growing concerned by his disappearance. Suing Litton Industries for negligent design, William’s family were ultimately awarded ten million dollars, increased to fifteen on appeal, by a jury four years later, with the company forced to settle for a larger unidentified sum out of court to avoid admittance of guilt and avert a litany of subsequent claims.