Robotics arms are becoming increasingly popular in manufacturing industry. These robots are far more efficient, can get the work done quickly and with fewer mistakes. Now, Apple’s chief supplier, Foxconn, is planning to introduce more than a million robots over the next few years.
A number of companies in China as well as Netherlands are already making use of robotic arms. These robotic arms can usually accomplish more work than the human workers and thus, bring down the manufacturing costs in the long run.
The electronics giant, Philips, for instance is already making use of 128 robot arms. According to an electrical engineer who manages the Philips assembly line, “With these machines, we can make any consumer device in the world.”
Foxconn also has plans of jumping the bandwagon. The Chinese manufacturer is planning to introduce more than a million robots to replace the human workers over the next few years. Being the major manufacturer for Apple’s devices, the workload is bound to increase for Foxconn over the next years and that is precisely what the company seems to be preparing for.
However, Foxconn hasn’t revealed how many workers will be replaced and laid off in consequence of the new robots. Also, many analysts think that replacing humans with robots is not exactly a great idea and may prove futile in the long run.
According to eminent robotics specialist, Bran Ferren, “I had an early naivete about universal robots that could just do anything. You have to have people around anyway. And people are pretty good at figuring out, how do I wiggle the radiator in or slip the hose on? And these things are still hard for robots to do.”
Source: NYT
Courtesy: Ubergizmo
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