William Afton didn’t make a clearly documented “first animatronic” in the series canon, but the earliest animatronics tied to his work are generally the Spring Bonnie-related suits and later the advanced Funtime animatronics. Fandom lore sources describe him as having robotics skill by the time he created the Funtime line, which points to his earliest known animatronic work happening before the later FNAF-era restaurant tech.

In-universe timeline

  • The earliest Afton-linked animatronic concept is usually the Spring Bonnie suit era, which comes before the more advanced machines.
  • The first explicitly attributed creations people often point to are the Funtime animatronics from later in the timeline.
  • There is no single official date in the games that says, “William built the first animatronics here.”

What that means

If you mean “when did he start making animatronics,” the safest answer is: sometime before the Funtime era, likely in the early days of Fazbear-style restaurant technology. If you mean “which were his first,” most fans would say Spring Bonnie-related equipment first, then later Funtime animatronics.

TL;DR

William Afton’s first animatronics are not pinned to one exact date in canon, but his earliest known work is tied to the Spring Bonnie/springlock era , with the Funtime animatronics coming later.