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Doubling the world's industrial robot population, by Foxconn

Eavesdropper
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Industrial electronics manufacturing robot (via KUKA)
 
Foxconn, based in Taiwan, is the world's premier electronics manufacturers. They assemble Nintendo, Apple, and Microsoft electronics. (Foxconn is also the world's leader in employee suicides. While many were stopped, 17 did jump to their deaths last year.)  The founder and chairman Terry Gou plans to replace a large portion of Foxconn's 1 million human workers with 1 million industrial robots. He stated rising labor costs as the issue. The robots will handle tasks such as welding, spraying, and assembly. The robot increase will go from 10,000 to 300,000 by the end of 2012. A million bots will be reached by 2014.
 
The World Robotics report gives an estimate of 1.3 million industrial robots in operation today. Foxconn's plan will effectively double that number. (Trivia: Only 2.23 million industrial robots have been built since the first one was introduced in the 1960s.)
 
Eavesdropper
  • in reply to DAB

    Well said about the worker treatment.

     

    Mining robots could mine at depths that wouldn't harm the surface environment that much, I would assume.

     

    C

  • I think the last fifty years has shown that when you treat people as mindless machines, they tend to lose their minds.  While I dislike the aspect where the robots are taking jobs, I can see the necessity in replacing people in these types of processes where the human is actually at risk.  I wish they could move faster with the mining robots.  The losses in mine accidents is very alarming.  Not to mention the adverse health effects from the mine environment.

     

    DAB