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Foxconn Begins To Assemble Its Robot Army
kkleiner writes "Foxconn, the Chinese electronics manufacturer that builds numerous mobile devices and gaming consoles, previously said the company would be aiming to replace 1 million Foxconn workers with robots within 3 years. It appears as if Foxconn has started the ball in motion. Since the announcement, a first batch of 10,000 robots — aptly named Foxbots — appear to have made their way into at least one factory, and by the end of 2012, another 20,000 more will be installed"
The next thing you know, they'll be using robots in automobile and aircraft factories!
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I can only be happy when humans are replaced by machines to do repetitive, menial and hazardous tasks. In the future, nobody will have to do things like that. People will enjoy a comfortable life with lots of leisure and plenty of time to do things that make them fulfilled, instead of slaving for 16 hours a day.
In light of such a system, where the few who own the means of production are capable of disenfranchising and exploiting all others, I propose an alternative economic system that the Chinese can implement, in order to prevent the exploitation of the common man by the wealthy. One where the means of production are owned by the state, which represents the collective will of the people...
Oh, wait a minute...
When all of the low-skill repetitive jobs are replaced by robots, and there is no work for the millions of displaced workers they are going to find unexpected ways to spend their forced leisure time, such as developing a newfound love of pitchforks, machetes, rope and guillotines.. and an unhealthy obsession with the "Job Creators" who created a new life of misery for them.
And the USA is England colony. But now younger people in USA prefer to call themselves "Americans" rather than "British".
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Keep dreaming; labor costs are a pretty small part of the problem with manufacturing moving overseas. Chinese factories staffed by robots will still spew untreated toxic waste into their rivers and skies. Until everyone there either dies of exposure or they clean up their act, they'll have a huge price advantage.
"robots" aren't smart, by definition they simply perform per-programmed repetitive tasks; they're just a piece of hardware following some software instructions. You're thinking of an "automaton" which is a self-operating machine. When most people think "robot" they're actually thinking of the stereotypical sci-fi Android, which is an automaton with human characteristics. When manufacturers say robot they mean... robot, not android, not automaton... robot
Robots have been used in manufacturing for years, both in the US and abroad. In general though manufacturing moved off-shore because the human labor was so cheap it was even more cost effective than buying and maintaining robots domestically. If China is moving towards robots it only means that their human labor force is no longer cost effective, and will likely mean that a lot more manufacturing will move back to being domestic (the cost of running a robot locally is hardly different than the cost of running a robot off-shore). About the only reason to continue manufacturing in China at that point would be the proximity to the production of other components (which will likely become less of an issue over time) and availability of raw materials (which varies from industry to industry, country to country).
Collector's Edition
We've already mechanized much of our manufacturing. The US still manufactures more then almost any nation, we just don't employ that many people to do it.
Automating a production line that is understood and mature is easy. Developing a production method is costly and hard to do fully automated.
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