{"id":"8922d2c9-a1b7-4650-b857-7aab1ec7fc6b","slug":"kawasaki-kenji-urada-robot-fatality-1981","kind":"injury","headline":"Kenji Urada killed by a Kawasaki robot arm after entering the work envelope, Akashi, Japan (1981)","summary":"In 1981 maintenance worker Kenji Urada was killed at a Kawasaki Heavy Industries plant in Akashi, Japan when he climbed over a safety fence to service a malfunctioning robot without fully powering it down; the hydraulic arm pushed him into an adjacent machine. One of the earliest documented industrial-robot fatalities (exact date variously reported; year firmly established).","occurredAt":"1981-01-01T12:00:00.000Z","reviewStatus":"unreviewed","modelId":null,"deploymentId":null,"companyId":"8186d180-d5ca-4fdc-94c7-af7b2bd881d5","aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"severity":"critical","rootCauseCategory":"human_operator_error","rootCauseDetail":"Worker bypassed the safety fence to service a robot that was not fully de-energized; arm pinned him against an adjacent machine.","affectedUnitsCount":null,"affectedUnitsBasis":null,"remediationStatus":"resolved","regulatoryAction":"none","regulatoryBody":null,"propertyDamageEstimateUsd":null,"damageEstimateBasis":null,"bodilyInjurySeverity":"fatal","fatalityCount":1,"lossCostClass":null,"sourceQualityTier":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:25.257Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:25.257Z","model":null,"deployment":null,"company":{"id":"8186d180-d5ca-4fdc-94c7-af7b2bd881d5","name":"Kawasaki Heavy Industries","slug":"kawasaki-heavy-industries","description":"Kawasaki Heavy Industries is a Japanese industrial conglomerate based in Kobe, developing industrial robots (Kawasaki Robotics) and the RHP Kaleido humanoid robot (research stage) for industrial and service applications. The Kaleido humanoid targets manufacturing and logistics automation.","status":"public (TSE; Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd)","founded":1896,"hq":"Kobe, Japan","fundingTotal":null,"type":"both","reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://kawasakirobotics.com/asia-oceania/blog/story_22/","title":"RHP Kaleido 7th-gen specs (180 cm, 80 kg, ~4 km/h gait; iREX 2022)","sourceName":"Kawasaki Robotics (official)"},{"url":"https://kawasakirobotics.com/asia-oceania/blog/20260316_kaleido9/","title":"Kaleido 9 goals (iREX 2025; reinforced joints, LiDAR/SLAM, HMD remote op; ~2030 roadmap)","sourceName":"Kawasaki Robotics (official)"},{"url":"https://biggo.com/news/202512051422_Kawasaki-Kaleido-9-Humanoid-Robot-Launch","title":"Kawasaki unveils Kaleido 9: 18 kg payload (~35% increase)","sourceName":"BigGo News"}],"keyFacts":[{"label":"Product","value":"RHP Kaleido full-size robust humanoid (R&D since 2015; 9th gen at iREX 2025)."},{"label":"Status","value":"Research: internal R&D, exhibition demos only, ~2030 factory roadmap."},{"label":"wikipedia","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Heavy_Industries"},{"label":"wikidata","value":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q748148"}],"aliases":["Kawasaki","Kawasaki Robotics","KHI"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"atsProvider":null,"atsSlug":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-03T19:24:28.141Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-03T23:50:55.591Z"},"derived":{"status":"active"},"sources":[{"id":"aaddf346-50ef-48af-9b13-8cf3670608f5","incidentId":"8922d2c9-a1b7-4650-b857-7aab1ec7fc6b","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Urada","label":"Wikipedia","publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":null,"mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:25.257Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:25.257Z"}],"responses":[],"statusEvents":[],"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/kawasaki-kenji-urada-robot-fatality-1981","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/kawasaki-kenji-urada-robot-fatality-1981","headline":"Kenji Urada killed by a Kawasaki robot arm after entering the work envelope, Akashi, Japan (1981)","description":"In 1981 maintenance worker Kenji Urada was killed at a Kawasaki Heavy Industries plant in Akashi, Japan when he climbed over a safety fence to service a malfunctioning robot without fully powering it down; the hydraulic arm pushed him into an adjacent machine. One of the earliest documented industrial-robot fatalities (exact date variously reported; year firmly established).","identifier":"8922d2c9-a1b7-4650-b857-7aab1ec7fc6b","datePublished":"1981-01-01T12:00:00.000Z","articleSection":"injury","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"},"author":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"unreviewed","maturity_stage":null,"lifecycle_state":null,"architectural_position":{"cohort":null,"sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":1,"primary_source_types":["knowledge-base"]}}}