On January 25, 1979, Robert Williams became the first person to be killed by a robot.

He was struck in the head and killed by the arm of a 1-ton production-line robot in a Ford Motor Company casting plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, USA. The robot was part of a parts-retrieval system that moved material from one part of the factory to another. When the robot began running slowly, Williams reportedly climbed into the storage rack to retrieve parts manually when he was struck in the head and killed instantly.

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