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Toyota to Employ Advanced Robots

Posted by michael on from the robots-are-born-free-and-everywhere-are-in-chains dept.

olegalexandrov writes "Toyota Motor will introduce robots which can work as well or better than humans at all 12 of its factories in Japan to cut costs and deal with a looming labor shortage. The robots would be able to carry out multiple tasks simultaneously with their two arms, achieving efficiency unseen in human workers and matching the cheap wages of Chinese laborers, a report said on Thursday." The Motley Fool has a humorous take, and Toyota emphasizes that goodlife, err, humans will continue to have a place in Toyota factories.

6 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. Will these robots be buying Toyotas also by srobert · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It'll be difficult for a labor organizers to organize these robots. But I'll bet it'll also be difficult to get them to act as good consumers.

  2. Japanese Substitute Inventiveness for Immigration by Baldrson · · Score: 4, Insightful
    In Japanese Substitute Inventiveness for Immigration; NYT Shocked Steve Sailer writes:
    New York Times reporter James Brooke was recently shocked, shocked to discover that the Japanese people's famous fascination with robots and automation stems from their"xenophobia." [Japan Seeks Robotic Help in Caring for the Aged Mar. 5, 2004 NYT ]

    The labor-saving device that gave Brookes the willies was Sanyo's new clamshell-shaped automated bathing machine. It allows frail people confined to wheelchairs to roll in dirty and roll out clean and dry.

    Shivered Brooke: "Futuristic images of elderly Japanese going through rinse and dry cycles in rows of washing machines may evoke chills."

    Yet the machine doesn't seem to give the shivers to its users. Toshiko Shibahara, an 89-year-old resident of a Japanese nursing home told Brooke, "You don't get a chill. You feel always warm." Likewise, Kuni Kikuchi, an 88-year-old in a wheelchair, noted, "It automatically washes my body, so I am quite happy about it. These bubbles are good for the massage effect."

    ...

    My question: doesn't the uniqueness of Japanese culture add to the diversity of the world?

    And aren't we supposed to celebrate diversity?

    Oh, excuse me, that's the wrong kind of diversity. We are supposed to celebrate the right kind of diversity--the kind where each country becomes so diverse in population, its culture so diluted by immigration, that all countries are eventually the same.

    How silly of me to forget that the ultimate goal of "diversity" is global uniformity--and monotony.

    --
    Seastead this.
  3. They are here to protect us by Jardine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So the same robot could be the pusher robot and the shover robot at the same time, doubling their protection of us from the terrible secret of space.

  4. I am very happy that Toyota are doing this by amembleton · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I read a few years ago about Japanese car makers investing heavily in robotics, but then didn't hear much more about it. I assumed that with the opening up of markets like China and India research had dwindled due to such low labour costs. This will require jobs to maintain and of course develop the robots. Which really are going to be mechanical arms with some basic AI thrown in.

    Toyota can spend more on design and less on the actuall production of vehicles, which will likely improve safety and performance of the vehicles. I hope over manufacturers follow suit. This should funnel more money into R&D for AI.

    Sorry, I just rambled on with thoughts there. hmmm... ...I'm waiting for the 'our new robotic overlords' jokes to start flooding in.

  5. Re:What?!?! by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Labor shortage? How about outsourcing (insourcing?) some of those jobs to Detroit where there are surplus autoworkers?


    For a Japanese manufacturer, outsourcing to Detroit probably doesn't represent a cost savings or an efficiency boost.

    You don't have to pay benefits to a robot, and they work longer shifts.

    North American workers simply aren't willing to view themselves as cheap labour to pick up the slack from more expensive places to do manufacturing.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  6. Re:This will be a new industrial revolution by back_pages · · Score: 4, Insightful
    A world where there are no jobs for everyone isn't necessarily a bad thing, if societies are rearranged so that a decent living is provided for everyone and people start defining themselves not by their profession but by some other attributes.

    Get off it. It's been done before. The people were called peasants or serfs or comrades. When the people are unable to contribute to the GDP, then society has no need for the people and they are marginalized.

    The global economy abstracts the whole capitalist marketplace into two camps: producers and consumers. As long there is some population somewhere that can buy your product (maybe a tiny western European nation with a small, rich population) the rest of the world can go get bent. Crank out your product with robots or slaves or serfs or peasants and make a profit.

    Rampant capitalism is known as the black market and it doesn't work very well in the long run. The global economy isn't far from rampant capitalism, but it will work to some extent right up until the point where everybody's job has been replaced by a robot. Then nobody will be able to afford a new television, and the system will be in trouble.

    A little international labor law and careful import/export management would be help, but one thing is for certain - this is not the path to utopia where "societies are rearranged so that a decent living is provided for everyone". This is the path to peasantry, serfdom, servitude, and slavery through debt. This is the road to a life where a communist revolution starts to sound like a good idea.