Ventra Ionia Main（以下简称“Ventra”）是一家设立在美国密歇根州爱奥尼亚的汽车零配件制造商。
2015年7月的一天，这家公司的维修技师万达·霍尔布鲁克（Wanda Holbrook）在装配线上执行日常职责时，突然“被装配线上的机器人抓住并压死。”
今年3月7日，她的丈夫威廉·霍尔布鲁克（William Holbrook）向密歇根联邦法院提起不正当死亡诉讼，把为这家工厂提供机器人配件及安装的5家北美机器人公司厂商告上法庭。
这5家工厂分别是Prodomax，Flex-N-Gate，FANUC，Nachi和Lincoln Electric。
被害人霍尔布鲁克的工作包括保持机器人的工作秩序。在Ventra制造保险杠和拖车钩的装配线，她会定期检查和调整制造过程。
根据提交的诉讼显示，当被害人被害当天履行职责时，一个机器人的行为变得非常不规则。让被害人大吃一惊的是，这个机器人出人意料的被激活。
虽然机器人不能够移动，但它却用某种方式触及霍尔布鲁克，并故意在被害人站立的位置像装载拖车悬挂装置组件一样进行操作。
这个机器人把硬件装在霍尔布鲁克的头上。被害人当时已无法逃脱，她的头骨被压碎了。待她的同事发现有不妥之处时，霍尔布鲁克已经死亡。
被害人的丈夫在诉讼中称，“130区域的机器人永远不应当进入140区域，且不应该尝试在已经装上挂接组件的夹具内加载挂接组件。一个或多个被告的安全系统或设备发生故障，导致了被害人的死亡。”
原告未透露索赔的具体金额，但表示在被害人令人毛骨悚然的死亡之前，曾经历了“巨大的恐惧、震惊、有意识的疼痛和折磨。”他同时还以产品责任和违约两项罪名起诉FANUC，Nachi和Lincoln Electric三家厂商。
原告指出，机器人、工具、控制器和相关部件没有正确设计、制造或测试，不适合使用。
根据美国劳工部职业安全健康管理局的规定，机器人“通常被用于执行不安全的、危险的、高度重复的和令人不愉快的任务。”
不过职业安全健康管理局也指出，“研究表明，许多机器人事故发生在如编程、维护、测试、安装或调整的非常规操作条件下。在许多这样的操作过程中，当工人身处机器人工作环境时可能会遇到意想不到的伤害。”
机器人产业目前还没有具体的安全标准。根据职业安全健康管理局的统计数据，过去30年间发生了大约30起与机器人相关的死亡事件。
不过正如《纽约时报》指出的那样，随着机器人越来越多地被设计能够移动、自动运行、并与人类一起自由工作，机器造成的死亡人数将会继续增加。
In what could be a first, a robot is being sued for killing a human colleague.
In July 2015, Wanda Holbrook, “a maintenance technician performing routine duties on an assembly line” at an auto-parts maker in Ionia, Michigan, called Ventra Ionia Main, “was ‘trapped by robotic machinery’ and crushed to death”.
On March 7, her husband, William Holbrook, filed a wrongful death complaint in Michigan federal court, naming five North American robotics companies involved in engineering and integrating the machines and parts used at the plant. These included Prodomax, Flex-N-Gate, FANUC, Nachi, and Lincoln Electric.
Holbrook’s job involved keeping robots in working order. She routinely inspected and adjusted processes on the assembly line at Ventra, which makes bumpers.
Holbrook was performing her regular duties when a machine acted very irregularly, according to the lawsuit reported in Courthouse News.
Holbrook was in the plant’s six-cell “100 section” when a robot unexpectedly activated, taking her by surprise. The cells are separated by safety doors and the robot should not have been able to move. But it somehow reached Holbrook, and was intent on loading a trailer-hitch assembly part right where she stood over a similar part in another cell.
The machine loaded the hardware onto Holbrook’s head. She was unable to escape, and her skull was crushed. Co-workers who eventually noticed that something seemed amiss found Holbrook dead.
William Holbrook seeks an unspecified amount of damages, arguing that before her gruesome death, his wife “suffered tremendous fright, shock and conscious pain and suffering”.
He also names three of the defendants — FANUC, Nachi, and Lincoln Electric — in two additional claims of product liability and breach of implied warranty.
The case argues that the robots, tools, controllers, and associated parts were not properly designed, manufactured or tested, and not fit for use.
“The robot from section 130 should have never entered section 140, and should have never attempted to load a hitch assembly within a fixture that was already loaded with a hitch assembly. A failure of one or more of defendants’ safety systems or devices had taken place, causing Wanda’s death,” the lawsuit alleges.
