Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I really wouldn't have expected screws to be so hard. I would have thought this to have been the precise kind of task where machines would outperform humans.

Oh, there are machines that can do it, I've seem them. Maybe Apple has not tried the one that can. Either way the problem is the cost. The machine has to do it for less than the cost of a human doing it.
 
It’s obviously the future of manufacturing to some extent, it’s just a matter of the technology being ready.
 
Before Tesla, I remember reading an article that Mercedes-Benz removed a bunch of robots from their assembly line and put people back. For them, the issue was about variation in products. For example, a single line of cars for them might come with one of several different mirror assemblies. Making a seperate line for each permutation of possible trims and options is inefficient, and the robots weren't adequately able to tell apart similar but different parts (e.g., basic mirror, mirror with the turn signal, mirror with the turn-signal and auto-dimming, sports aerodynamic mirror, mirror with chrome accent, etc.) on a car-by-bar basis as compared to humans.

Notice how Tesla has almost no variation among models, other than paint color, interior color, and battery size.

Even battery size is really the same. They just limit it via software. The added bonus to that is Tesla often unlocks the extra capacity during disasters.
 
It's about the entire electronics supply chain, not to mention China has far more advanced automated manufacturing than America. Automation still relies on engineers and technicians running the factory. Guess which country is providing more education in those areas?

Manufacturing tends to be in the country with the largest market with the most number of engineers. Those countries were eclipsed once China made manufacturing a strategic priority.

In terms of engineers, there's a reason why Tim Cook is chairman at Tsinghua University. American universities simply don't have links to real manufacturing sites for practical applications.

Not "more education" but less education. You want people with a high school + 2 year AA-level trade degree. Something like industrial automation technology from a community college.

People in the US tend to be overeducated to the 4-year level, with a university education that focuses on theory.

On the other hand, this higher level of education in the US leads to an effective pipeline to the Masters and PhD level, which is why the US leads in development of new technologies, and why a US graduate degree is still unmatched in the world.

That is, the US is great at training people to make new things, where China has people who are good at following directions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: citysnaps
Even battery size is really the same. They just limit it via software. The added bonus to that is Tesla often unlocks the extra capacity during disasters.

They used to do this sometimes. I don't think they do it anymore.

As I understood it, first the 40kWh was a software limited 60kWh. Later, the 60kWh battery was a software limited 75kWh. I think later again the 75kWh was a software limited 90kWh.

But the 100kWh was always a unique battery, and as I understand it, all the new Model S and X come with the 100kWh battery where the only difference is whether it has the P drivetrain.

The Model 3 (and Model Y too maybe?) comes with either 54 or 62 or 75kWh battery, but there is no software limiting on that model. What you get is what you get.

I have a few friends that own Teslas. The funny thing is it's actually bad to charge to 100% with batteries that big - it degrades faster. My friends with Teslas keep theirs at 70-80% charged at most day to day, and only charge to like 95% or more when they know they're going on a long trip that needs it. So in real life you'll rarely actually get to use your full battery capacity whatever it is, but the software limiting that Tesla used to do sort of helped do it anyway. In other words, if you have a Tesla with a software limited battery, you can feel free to charge to your fake 100% while the people with non-limited batteries need to worry about charging to 70-80%. Not a big deal of course, but it's funny to consider.
 
Last edited:
Sooo, time to come up with a screwless design (whatever that might be)!
 
Have you not been to supermarkets, drug stores, banks etc. recently? They are attempting to force us to use self-service scanning and cash out tills so they can fire millions of people. And for the most part we are bending and happily accommodating their wishes. Not even a discount on our purchases for doing so. We are blindly putting our neighbours on the unemployment line.

With new, more advanced technologies we will inevitably need to face the reality that our economies will change irreversibly. I don’t see less jobs for humans as a dystopian future, not unless we don’t change how the economy works. Universal basic income paid for by a healthy tax on the companies pushing automation solves the issue of check out clerks losing their jobs. Time to join the Yang Gang my man
 
Have you not been to supermarkets, drug stores, banks etc. recently? They are attempting to force us to use self-service scanning and cash out tills so they can fire millions of people. And for the most part we are bending and happily accommodating their wishes. Not even a discount on our purchases for doing so. We are blindly putting our neighbours on the unemployment line.
Automation will come no matter what. Self-checkout is one aspect of automation.

Here in the states in the tri-state area, ez-pass readers are used for toll collection. Most of the bridges and tunnels and new jersey turnpike and garden state parkway had toll collectors to accept cash and give change. Now they are mostly gone and if you don't have an ez-pass your license plate is recorded and the owner sent a bill in the mail.

But automation is also for consistency.
 
It's always easier to take things apart than to put them together. That's why I figured they started with that Liam robot. They need to look into simplifying the construction. Will be good for their bottom line and for right to repair advocates.

However, eventually everything will be 3D printed from the bottom up so lots of people will lose their jobs, and instead of making things cheaper companies will probably keep the prices the same or even increase them somewhat—even though people won't be able to afford them. Only the very wealthy will be able to.

We're headed toward a job cliff in the coming decades that will make the coronavirus pandemic job situation look like a walk in the park. I've been wondering about going back to school for robotics because I bet machine learning replaces my skills as a designer, developer, and photographer one day. But even so they will probably build robots to service the robots so that may be a dead end as well.

It's at this point that many people bring up UBI. But a lot of people will feel worthless and unfortunately end their lives if they're just collecting a check every month and not working on something. At best depression will be rampant. I'm a builder at heart. I have to be making things. Will everyone be able to pick up hobbies to keep them busy and fulfilled? I think I would be okay since I could maintain my own personal photography, woodworking, landscaping, and painting hobbies—but most people would lose their minds at home all day. Just look at this pandemic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki
But a lot of people will feel worthless and unfortunately end their lives if they're just collecting a check every month and not working on something.

That explains the mass suicides when everyone turns 65 and retires.

This may be the silliest statement I’ve ever read on macrumors forums.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Detnator
Keyboard on that macbook does not use screws. Butterfly keyboards are riveted into the top case. Fairly major oversight that makes me doubt veracity of report.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MacManiac1
Apple used to “Design for Manufacturability”. Look at the Mac IIcx. Had exactly one screw in the whole computer. Things slid and snapped together and one screw held it in place. Additionally, new robot end effector tooling has improved immensely since Apple started their first trials.
 
It seems that if Apple wants to use automation they should create a design that's easy for automation to do.

Robots can't handle screws? Don't use screws, figure out some other way of securing things. Their problem may have been that they tried to automate the current line, which will be difficult to do (as they discovered).

How would you design an iPhone so that it's easy for robots to assemble? That sounds like it could be a high-level design class.
 
Here is a list of issues I tend to get with iPhones every year which requires multiple returns until a satisfactory one is sent.

- Uneven display tone (top half will be a warmer yellow tone and the bottom more pinkish or blue. Sometimes the screen will be even except for one corner, or the whole display will be a warm yellow which is very noticeable.)
- Scratched glass.
- Glue poking out of the edges.
- Chips/scratches on the coloured stainless steel bands.
- Mushy non clicking buttons.
- Dust behind the camera lens.
- Gaps between the stainless steel band and the edge of the display.
- Jagged edges on the thin strip of plastic which goes around the display glass.

Quality is very uneven amongst batches. These days I tend to buy multiple iPhones to compare then select the best one to keep and return the rest.

If robots manufacturing the phones will sort these types of issues out I'm all for it.
 
Interesting....Tim wants to help mankind, help the vulnerable etc. etc. but his company has been striving to come up with ways to reduce the number of workers. I am confident that the robots will regularly send food packages to the families of the workers who are terminated.

Employment obsolescence has always been a recurring theme of technological advance. Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki has spoken about it:

watch
 
It seems that if Apple wants to use automation they should create a design that's easy for automation to do.

Robots can't handle screws? Don't use screws, figure out some other way of securing things. Their problem may have been that they tried to automate the current line, which will be difficult to do (as they discovered).

How would you design an iPhone so that it's easy for robots to assemble? That sounds like it could be a high-level design class.

The problem with that is that a device that is easy for robots to assemble may not be a product that’s great to use by the consumer. Or require compromises in areas that might make it more problematic for other departments, such as repair.

I guess what I am saying is that automation constraints should not impact the design process.
 
That explains the mass suicides when everyone turns 65 and retires.

This may be the silliest statement I’ve ever read on macrumors forums.
Think about what you just said. It’s really privileged. People on UBI won’t be living the good life. People who retire usually save up to do fun things and have something to look forward to. The rest keep on working. And yeah, there are actually a lot of psychological studies about people who have no reason for existing. Many people put way too much meaning into their job. I was actually one of those people last year and when I wasn’t working for some time I spiraled and started having bad thoughts and had to get counseling and learned about a lot of this stuff through therapy and research. They’ve also done a lot of studies on rats, creating utopian societies for the rats and they end up dying off and collapsing their society. I’m not saying everyone would be this way, but a lot of people would. It would definitely be a problem!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shirasaki
Think about what you just said. It’s really privileged. People on UBI won’t be living the good life. People who retire usually save up to do fun things and have something to look forward to. The rest keep on working. And yeah, there are actually a lot of psychological studies about people who have no reason for existing. Many people put way too much meaning into their job. I was actually one of those people last year and when I wasn’t working for some time I spiraled and started having bad thoughts and had to get counseling and learned about a lot of this stuff through therapy and research. They’ve also done a lot of studies on rats, creating utopian societies for the rats and they end up dying off and collapsing their society. I’m not saying everyone would be this way, but a lot of people would. It would definitely be a problem!
People who retire save up to do fun things? In what world do you live?

and humans aren’t rats.

there are plenty of ways to live a fulfilling life without being forced to do menial labor to eke out enough money to live. People can have hobbies. Not having to work is not going to drive people to suicide. That’s just moronic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Detnator
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.