{"id":"ee244be1-a10c-4567-9089-f72a20c7ccb6","slug":"ford-robert-williams-robot-fatality-1979","kind":"injury","headline":"Robert Williams, first known person killed by a robot, struck by a parts-retrieval arm at Ford (1979)","summary":"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.","occurredAt":"1979-01-25T12:00:00.000Z","reviewStatus":"unreviewed","modelId":null,"deploymentId":null,"companyId":"d55d9fb8-fae4-424d-9747-2026ec16f97a","aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"severity":"critical","rootCauseCategory":"mechanical_failure","rootCauseDetail":"Robot arm operated with no presence-sensing/stop while a worker entered its working envelope; first known robot fatality.","affectedUnitsCount":null,"affectedUnitsBasis":null,"remediationStatus":"resolved","regulatoryAction":"none","regulatoryBody":null,"propertyDamageEstimateUsd":null,"damageEstimateBasis":null,"bodilyInjurySeverity":"fatal","fatalityCount":1,"lossCostClass":null,"sourceQualityTier":null,"oshaRecordable":null,"oshaCaseNumber":null,"rootCauseDisclosed":null,"publicDisclosureDate":null,"insuranceClaimPublic":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:24.321Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:24.321Z","model":null,"deployment":null,"company":{"id":"d55d9fb8-fae4-424d-9747-2026ec16f97a","name":"Ford Motor Company","slug":"ford-motor","description":"Ford Motor Company, American automaker developing autonomous vehicle technology through Ford Autonomous Vehicles and Argo AI partnership.","status":"active","founded":null,"hq":"Dearborn, MI","fundingTotal":null,"type":"both","reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://www.ford.com/","title":"Ford","date_accessed":"2026-06-07"}],"keyFacts":[],"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"atsProvider":null,"atsSlug":null,"factoryLocations":null,"manufacturingCapacity":null,"orgType":null,"burnSignal":null,"litigationEvents":null,"insurancePostureDisclosed":null,"unitEconomicsDisclosed":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-08T04:40:28.109Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-07T20:51:09.961Z"},"derived":{"status":"active"},"sources":[{"id":"de6d828c-a86a-4b29-beea-0a25e5115eef","incidentId":"ee244be1-a10c-4567-9089-f72a20c7ccb6","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Williams_(robot_fatality)","label":"Wikipedia","publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":null,"mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:24.321Z","updatedAt":"2026-06-24T02:58:24.321Z"}],"responses":[],"statusEvents":[],"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/ford-robert-williams-robot-fatality-1979","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/ford-robert-williams-robot-fatality-1979","headline":"Robert Williams, first known person killed by a robot, struck by a parts-retrieval arm at Ford (1979)","description":"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.","identifier":"ee244be1-a10c-4567-9089-f72a20c7ccb6","datePublished":"1979-01-25T12:00:00.000Z","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"]}}}