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"

Comments

Rise of the machines?

[Anonymous Coward]

Given the way Foxconn treats their employees, it makes me wonder if the robots will eventually revolt. (Terminator theme music)

This is the beginning of the end

[Infonaut]

The next thing you know, they'll be using robots in automobile and aircraft factories!

Taiwanese

[Anonymous Coward]

"Foxconn, the Chinese electronics manufacturer..."

The company is Taiwanese. (It's just the plants that are located in China.)

Re:Taiwanese

[Krneki]

And the USA is England colony. But now younger people in USA prefer to call themselves "Americans" rather than "British".

Re:Taiwanese

[Sentrion]

Back in the 80's a lot of products were marked "Made in China" but were actually made in Taiwan or Hong Kong. All three can be considered "China" depending on your definition. Daewoo is from Korea, and their products are marked "Made in Korea", but we all know that "Korea" in this sense does not include "North Korea".

Many people refer to the main island of Great Britain as "England" when "England" is just the southern portion, not to be confused with Cornwall, Wales, or Scotland. But in terms of ethnicity, culture, language, and nationality, Taiwan is more "China" than Scotland will ever be "England". The major defining difference between ROC (Taiwan) and PRC (China) is political, as in who literally governs.

Great

[daem0n1x]

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.

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

I expect without Star Trek replicators, the future will rather instead look like that two-part episode of DS9 where Sisko went back in time and ended up in the ghetto. You know, the ghetto, where the vast masses in your utopian vision will end up, whilst the privileged few complain about the eye sore from their comfortable life of leisure.

Robotic labor alone isn't going to unseat our economic system.

Re:Great

[blind biker]

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 an equitable world, yes, that would be the outcome. In a world where artificial scarcity is created, one where you "must work in order to earn a living", there will be a huge unemployed and poor minority, or even majority. I do hope that the former scenario folds out. But looking at the american society, where people would rather be poor than not have someone even poorer to look down on, where they would rather everybody pays onerous student loans for most of their productive lives, because "I had it tough, so it's only fair that everybody else, in perpetuity, has it", where they'll "move to Canada" because of Obama's healthcare reform... well, it doesn't induce much hope.

Solution for the Chinese

[Anonymous Coward]

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...

Except there is a flaw in your logic

[pkbarbiedoll]

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.

Re:Except there is a flaw in your logic

[daem0n1x]

I guess that's what happened with mechanisation of agriculture and the invention of the assembly line here in the Western countries. We live a life of misery, now. We were so much happier working 18 hour shifts in a shitty factory or plowing from dawn to dusk!

I Had Sex with a Robot!

[Anonymous Coward]

Mom: Billy, do you want to walk your dog?
Billy: No thanks, mom. I'd rather have sex with my Foxbot.

Dad: Billy, do you want to get a paper route and earn some extra cash?
Billy: No thanks, dad. I'd rather have sex with my Foxbot.

Mavis: Billy, do you want to come over tonight? We can have sex together.
Billy: Gee, Mavis, your house is across the street. That's an awfully long way to go for having sex.

Do not have sex with a robot! Before you know it, it will be the end of the human civilization.

Re:It's really the only solution

[magarity]

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.

Re:A desire for slavery?

[twistedsymphony]

"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).

Oblig. Futurama

[Dachannien]

Bender: You humans are so scared of a little robot competition you won't even let us on the field.
Fry: What are you talking about? There's all kinds of robots down there.
Bender: Yeah, doing crap work! They're bat boys, ball polishers, sprinkler systems. But how many robot managers are there?
Fry: Eleven?
Bender: Zero! (He throws his bottle on the floor and it breaks. A small robot comes out and cleans it up.) And what a surprise! Look who's scraping up the filth! Is it a human child? I wish!