When robots kill: deaths by machines are nothing new but AI is about to change everything

On January 25, 1979, 25-year-old Robert Williams climbed into a storage rack to retrieve parts from a malfunctioning robot at Ford's Flat Rock plant in Michigan. The robot, not able to sense Williams' presence, swung round and struck him on the head, killing him instantly. The robot kept working for 30 minutes as Williams lay dead on the floor. His death, nearly forty years ago, makes Williams the first person to be killed as a result of actions by a robot. In August 1983, his family was awarded $10 million after a jury ruled against Unit Handling, the company that designed the one-ton machine.