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John Etherton is a pioneering researcher in industrial robotics safety, whose work throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s helped establish a critical scientific foundation for understanding human-robot interaction hazards in workplace environments. Affiliated with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Etherton made foundational contributions to machine safety research at a time when industrial robots were becoming increasingly prevalent — and increasingly dangerous — on factory floors. His most significant work centers on human perception of and response to unexpected robot arm movements, a problem he recognized as central to industrial accidents. His 1987 model of human reaction time to dangerous robot movements addressed the counterintuitive danger of slow robot speeds, demonstrating that imperceptible motion could be just as hazardous as rapid movement. Subsequent experimental studies examined how variables like robot speed and visual contrast influenced worker decision-making and response times, generating insights directly applicable to safety standards and engineering design. With his most-cited works accumulating around ten citations each, Etherton's influence, though modest in scale, was formative in legitimizing robot safety as a distinct research discipline. His vision for future NIOSH machine safety directions helped shape the institutional agenda for occupational hazard research in an era of rapid industrial automation.