Manufacturing Technology Backlash

FIRST ROBOT HOMICIDE

Profile America — Saturday, July 21st. Science fiction turned into bizarre truth on this date 28 years ago, in the first known instance in the U.S. of a robot killing a human being. The accident occurred at a Jackson, Michigan plant when an automated piece of machinery turned and crushed a 34-year-old worker against a safety bar. He died five days later. The accident proved that in reality, there is no such thing as "law zero," as featured in Isaac Asimov's landmark novel, "I, Robot," which forbids robots from injuring human beings. Sometimes called "flexible manufacturing equipment," robots are parts of the more than $350 billion worth of manufacturing machinery sold each year in the U.S. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.