Robert Williams from Michigan was the first human to be killed by a robot. The accident happened to the 25-year-old man at Ford Motors on 25 January 1979.
The tragic accident was followed by a lawsuit for 10 million US dollars. The jury deliberated for two and a half hours before they announced the decision against Unit Handling Systems, a division of Litton Industries. The manufacturer of the one-ton robot was ordered to pay 10 million dollars in compensation to the family of the victim.
The robot was designed to retrieve parts from storage. Everybody considered it to be working extremely slowly. Williams was retrieving a part from the storage box when the robot’s arm hit him in the head. He died instantly on the spot.
In the suit, the family argued that the robot had no security mechanisms, and it did not even give alert signals to warn people working near it.