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Foxconn's 'Foxbot' Robots to Play Supporting Role in Factories
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Very sad news actually... all in the name of saving a few $ per device.
We're about to see "Inspection Passed by R2D2" sticker on our gear.
We're about to see "Inspection Passed by R2D2" sticker on our gear.
It's a win-win situation for Foxconn and Apple. The robots don't commit suicide, they don't need to be paid a pittance, they don't have a need for human rights, they don't need to have a comfort break (or eat) and they already have no soul. Perfect for making the richest company in the world even richer !
This is good for the production but will it reduce the cost, what about the employees job cuts.
You need somebody to design, program, and assemble the robots.
Of course, the second generation can be assembled by the first generation and so on, but we're still quite a way from being able to have machines able to design and program themselves.
Which is why my degree is in Computer Engineering. I'm here to replace everyone else with robots. Please, raise the minimum wages, it'll just increase how quickly buisnesses want to replace everyone else with the robots I make.
I always wonder if the people demanding higher wages realize I'm the only one who benefits or if they sincerely think it'll help them.
Nice...
It's actually an activated carbon (charcoal) face mask (it may be just gray color, but given the prevalence of the AC masks in China's manufacturing personnel it's likely the charcoal ones).
What I find most interesting is that the iPhone wasn't built entirely by robots since the beginning. Whenever you see any show like "How it's Made". High tech devices are built from beginning to end by robots. Perhaps with someone at the end doing packaging.
Why do you keep repeating the same FUD? Are you that uninformed about robotics role in manufacturing in the 21st century. Or do you take glee in humans doing dangerous repetitive tasks that frequently lead to crippling injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome? Robots serve a valuable purpose to keep quality consistent and also spare humans from dangerous work. The intent is not to replace humans.
Even in the most unionized countries in the world, such as Germany, robots are front and center of car factories -- BMW, Audi, VW, Porsche, M-B. But human employment in that industry, one of the biggest in that country has not declined. There are some jobs that robots can't do on the assembly line and also humans are needed to look over the robots & repair them when broken.
Please get educated on the role of robotics and stop spouting incorrect pap.
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The new humanoid robots supporting role consists on standing behind the employees and shout:
- resistance in futile
- you are paid too much
- you don't work long enough hours
- faster, faster, faster, faster, faster ….
- if you must, please open the window before jumping off
- resistance in futile
- you are paid too much
- you don't work long enough hours
- faster, faster, faster, faster, faster ….
- if you must, please open the window before jumping off
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So 'Foxbot' is what they call their employees now? No wonder they had to build nets around the tall buildings.
Just joshing here, but I'm surprised these phones aren't all made by robots. It might help with the 'fit and finish' and allow for higher production numbers, but also the possibility of a flaw in the production being replicated across many devices before it can be stopped.
Still, waiting to see the 'New And Improved, Larger iPhone'... With the apparently possible shorter battery life because it's thinner... Priorities.
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- And try, please, to miss the nets. They are just for our foreign investors to feel good about our 'human resource' program... Bwahahahahahahaha
Just joshing here, but I'm surprised these phones aren't all made by robots. It might help with the 'fit and finish' and allow for higher production numbers, but also the possibility of a flaw in the production being replicated across many devices before it can be stopped.
Still, waiting to see the 'New And Improved, Larger iPhone'... With the apparently possible shorter battery life because it's thinner... Priorities.
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- And try, please, to miss the nets. They are just for our foreign investors to feel good about our 'human resource' program... Bwahahahahahahaha
For now. But as Robots become more advanced, more adaptable, with better AI, and more self-awareness, the need for any human involvement will be less and less.
It's interesting that you mention unionized employees, because this raises some ethical issues.
Do we allow the robots to unionize? Should robots get similar rights to human employees? Can robots be paid? Should they be given time off for rest and recreation? Is it fair that robots toil as, essentially, slaves while humans lead a hedonistic life of leisure and luxury?
We're still a few years/decades away from this, of course. But failure to come up with satisfactory solutions to these questions could be disastrous.
HOWEVER, the 'best' cars and the 'best' appliances are still made one-at-a-time 'by hand' which seems to mean that there is no substitute for the 'old fashioned' way of manufacturing things, except for the cost.
I was into robotics in the early days. A robot is only as good as the person programming it, and a slight offset or flaw replicates across many items. Robots do tend to increase employment somewhat. Lower skilled workers to feed them, and higher skilled workers to fix them and program them. Gone forever, somewhat, is the guy that used to actually make the part that the robot now pounds out.
It's been established for awhile that pure labor costs are not the biggest reason to use countries like China for manufacturing. Manufacturing something like the iPhone in the US would not be that much more expensive per unit because of labor. The real reason for manufacturing in China is the ability and willingness of the manufacturers to move quickly to adapt to required changes in manufacturing processes. The ability to re-configure their facilities quickly to create entire new manufacturing lines for new products.
The Mac Pro is a perfect example. Apple was able to bring it back to the US because it's a relatively small product line, unit wise, and the length of time and expense it took to tool a US assembly factory was not nearly as impactful on Apple's bottom line. That, and the fact that they are able to hide the increased manufacturing cost in the $4000 to $10000 price much easier made it possible for Apple to bring that product to a US assembly line, and tout "Made in America."
There are already factories where the number of humans has been reduced to near zero. Raw materials come in one end, and finished product comes out the other. Someone sits at a series of video monitors watching the process. One plant even runs unattended over the weekend, according to an article I read a few years back.
Hah! I'm sure that the ability to think that far will be either removed, or not incorporated into any robots in the future. You know, kinda like the 'New Reformed American Educational System'. By the corporations, for the corporations, for the benefit of the investors.
But I think robotics is the 'wave of the future', and displacing 'greedy' and 'frivolous' workers is being driven by the headlong quest for obscene profits at all costs.
When people at the Chamber of Commerce get away with referring to workers as 'parasites', you know things aren't going in a good direction.
But eventually there will be robots working 24x7, with other robots working to fix them, and more robots to feed parts and maintain the investor profit margins... Some call it 'greed'. Some call it 'market forces'. Some call it inhumane...
But for the 1%, there will always be the 'hand made' quality goods...
using slave-like, non-unionized, marginally paid, workers.
May Gov save the Profit!
Will the Chinese welcome their new robotic overlords shouting the wisdom of Mao?
Only time will tell!
Only time will tell!
So it costs less, but is more expensive?
The biggest reason, to me, is that the Chinese ethos is perfect for repetitive task manufacturing. They are born to excel. They are born to labor six and seven days a week for double digit hours. They are born to shun such luxuries as a separate car for all adults, separate bedrooms, quality food in quantity, labor laws, environmental laws, the ability to breath the air. They respect authority and it's ingrained in them. So is the level of corruption that exists in China.
Put an American into that environment and they will decompensate. They will start deliberately producing bad parts to 'get back at the man', they will demand breaks, and quotas for pieces made. They will start carping about 'quality of life'...
China was 'the place' for manufacturing because of their ethos, their society reinforces blind adherence to authority, and in America, we are (or were) raised to question authority. Questioning authority does not lead to compliant workers...
Our heads filled with sitcoms and other detritus also doesn't prepare us for a prosperous future either.
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Will the Chinese welcome their new robotic overlords shouting the wisdom of Mao?
Only time will tell!
Will the American workers welcome their new authoritarian overlords shouting the wisdom of Mao?
I agree with your sentiment but, to be pedantic, it's the internals of the phones that are shrinking - the phones themselves are growing (not a trend I appreciate either, I like small phones).
As long as a few big shareholders are happy, that's all that really matters.
As long as our iPhone costs don't go up, that's all that matters.
As long as our iPhone costs don't go up, that's all that matters.
That's what this is all about
It's very sad the way those workers are treated.
The worst part is that the "black stuff" probably contains iSmoke. Something you should definitely not breathe.