The First Human Killed By a Robot Happened in Michigan

Did you know the first human death by robot on record happened in 1979 in Flat Rock, Michigan?

A small portion of our population have passionately argued that robots are a danger to the human race.  Some have even said that robots will take over the planet.  What happened on January 25th, 1979 to a 25-year-old assembly line worker at a Ford Motor plant probably fueled those beliefs.  Robert Williams was the first human killed by a robot according to wired.com,

Williams died instantly in 1979 when the robot's arm slammed him as he was gathering parts in a storage facility, where the robot also retrieved parts.

A jury decided it was not the robots fault.  They agreed that the lack of safety measures was to blame in the deaths of the young man.  His family was awarded $10 million in damages.

In 2020, it's safe to assume that people do not have a fear that robots will harm humans.  However, the fear in the 80's and 90's that robots and computers would take human jobs has been realized.  From robot arms on assembly lines to automated computers playing music at radio stations, hundreds of thousands of jobs that were once performed by humans can now be performed by computers and robots.

Remember the first time you the self scan at a grocery store?  How about the fact that you'd rather use an ATM instead of a human bank teller?  And now self-driving vehicles are replacing food delivery drivers, taxi drivers and truck drivers.  Check out a list of jobs that are seeing a huge impact of robots/computers replacing humans by clicking here.