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Incident · Injury

Robert Williams, first known person killed by a robot, struck by a parts-retrieval arm at Ford (1979)

On Jan 25 1979 at Ford's Michigan Casting Center in Flat Rock, Michigan, Robert Williams was struck and killed by the arm of a one-ton Litton-built parts-retrieval robot while he climbed into a storage rack to retrieve parts the robot was moving too slowly. Widely cited as the first human killed by a robot. His family was later awarded $10M in a 1983 product-liability verdict.

Occurred 1979-01-25 · Ford Motor Company

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Sources (1)

  1. Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Williams_(robot_fatality)

Common questions

What happened in Robert Williams, first known person killed by a robot, struck by a parts-retrieval arm at Ford (1979)?
On Jan 25 1979 at Ford's Michigan Casting Center in Flat Rock, Michigan, Robert Williams was struck and killed by the arm of a one-ton Litton-built parts-retrieval robot while he climbed into a storage rack to retrieve parts the robot was moving too slowly. Widely cited as the first human killed by a robot. His family was later awarded $10M in a 1983 product-liability verdict.
When did this incident occur?
The incident is recorded as occurring on January 25, 1979 on the DEPLOY registry. The date reflects the underlying real-world event, not the registry record's creation date.
Who was involved in Robert Williams, first known person killed by a robot, struck by a parts-retrieval arm at Ford (1979)?
The incident is recorded as involving Ford Motor Company on the DEPLOY registry. No specific robot model is linked to this incident in the registry.
Has anyone responded to Robert Williams, first known person killed by a robot, struck by a parts-retrieval arm at Ford (1979)?
No responses to this incident are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Operators, manufacturers, or affected parties can submit responses to the editorial team; absence is not a guarantee no response was issued.
What is the current status of Robert Williams, first known person killed by a robot, struck by a parts-retrieval arm at Ford (1979)?
This incident is an active record on the DEPLOY registry; no retraction or correction has been issued.
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-14

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-14

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1
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The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Robert Williams, first known person killed by a robot, struck by a parts-retrieval arm at Ford (1979).

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Canonical ID ee244be1-a10c-4567-9089-f72a20c7ccb6