iPhone Maker Foxconn Employs 1M Robots to Do Grunt Work

iPhone Maker Foxconn Employs 1M Robots to Do Grunt Work

www.wired.com

Foxconn has a reputation as maker of our much-beloved iDevices. It also has a reputation for inhumane living and working conditions for employees in its Shenzhen-based plants.

One way to potentially fix that tarnished image: replace some of those workers with robots.

One million robots, in fact, hopefully all in place within the next three years. The robots will be tasked with mundane tasks such as welding, spraying and assembling, which humans currently do. Foxconn currently uses 10,000 robots to supplement its 1.2 million human workers in its production process.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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The future work force has arrived.

Check the last name on the board of directors and you may find your friendly neighborhood ManBearPig (hope those bots are carbon neutral)

An Apple a day or so they say.

So they call them suicide-proof robots. Does that mean that the former workers were suicide-prone robots?

I don't know what else to say other than this is very disturbing.

www.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by MasterGemini


Yeah, what the hell does suicide proof robots mean?

Got my answer

Foxconn has a reputation as maker of our much-beloved iDevices. It also has a reputation for inhumane living and working conditions for employees in its Shenzhen-based plants.

That's it. I'm boycotting Apple & iPhones, which really pisses me cus I love my iPhone. This world we live in is disgusting

reply to post by Swills


that they get to keep doing it over and over agian and they dont have to pay or feed them

reply to post by neo96


Nope, it's because they have slaves for workers

something that is not living cant die then

Originally posted by neo96
something that is not living cant die then

Wrong again,

One way to potentially fix that tarnished image: replace some of those workers with robots.

Originally posted by neo96
something that is not living cant die then

They get to live on forever as a mopped up stain on Fox Conn and Apple's reputation

One day, when the elite can have everything they want made by robots, they will no longer need human workers.

When they no longer need human workers, they will kill us all.

With their robot army (currently under construction).

Why do you think they are working so hard to develop a robot army?

reply to post by Cryptonomicon


Nah, they'll keep some for sex slaves, and much worse

This is insane, in my humble opinion.
on another note.

You guys amaze me (not all of you )

You guys love to point fingers at Obama, and other people that ARE NOT in a position to change some of the things that are wrong. 1 million robots = 1 million jobs. People moan and groan in the STATES about jobs, and I haven't heard a single peep about how technology has invaded the workforce over the last 30 years. Instead improving conditions it always seems to end the same.

......Once upon a time, I could call for assistance and talk to a HUMAN representative, which took about 5 minutes at the most, NOT AN HOUR OF REPEATING MYSELF LOL. I imagine Ms. Robotica took more than a million jobs related to customer service alone

Anyway to make a long story short, I would love to offer a quote made famous from an American hero.

"What doesn't you effect directly, CAN and WILL effect you indirectly". Dr. King

My Rage is forever against the machines. Peace and blessings to all.

So when Americans, Germans and Japanese use robots to gain more profits and kill off real jobs it is ok because it's advanced and efficient but when the Chinese do it, it's evil?

Check out the work facilities at FoxxConn, they actually don't have it too bad there compared to other underworld factories and 3rd world countries.

Originally posted by eLPresidente
So when Americans, Germans and Japanese use robots to gain more profits and kill off real jobs it is ok because it's advanced and efficient but when the Chinese do it, it's evil?

Check out the work facilities at FoxxConn, they actually don't have it too bad there compared to other underworld factories and 3rd world countries.

LoL not so bad eh?

Would you work there? Have you read the description of the working conditions?

Here is your contract to sign promising you wont commit suicide under their watchful i (pod)

reply to post by eLPresidente


It's been describe as working in a cage or prison and the workers kill themselves. Sounds like Hell to me

Look what I found on China Daily

Foxconn to use 1m robots to replace workers

Foxconn is the largest original equipment manufacture (OEM) electronics company in China and currently employs 1.2 million people along with implementing 10,000 robots.

Labor experts said robots stealing human employment positions will only happen on a small scale. In a long term, using robots will increase efficiency and enlarge employment.

They plan on increasing employment, oh goodie!

There is not talk of the conditions of the work environments or worker suicide. Which doesn't shock me

Originally posted by Swills
reply to post by eLPresidente

 

It's been describe as working in a cage or prison and the workers kill themselves. Sounds like Hell to me

I said FoxxConn is not bad compared to some underworld factories and 3rd world conditions. This is true as FoxxCon does provide dormitories, food courts, extra-curricular activities and education that counts for school credits. They of course don't have work conditions as good as Americans but this needs to be worked out in due time as the nation continues to advance. Instead of sitting on the sidelines complaining about year old sentiments toward the Chinese, maybe read their 5 year plan and criticize that.

A similar analogy would be to stop blaming decisions from decades ago made on our fiscal policies and debt and focus on how we can limit government and spending back to manageable sizes.

If you took the time to understand why those suicides happened, you'd see it from a different perspective. Google the actual stories, not paying attention to the sensationalized headlines and hearsay.

From reading the comments it seems everybody here thinks this is a horrible idea. I however have a different opinion. Using a robot for a mundane job especially on an assembly line is a great idea so long as the quality of the work is equal or greater than what a human can do.

No human should be doing a mundane task such as putting a single washer on a screw as it passes by for 8-10 hrs a day every day. Yes, it sucks they will loose their jobs, but they should embrace it as an opportunity to better their life by doing something else. Perhaps learn how to repair some of the upcoming 1 million robots or learn new skills in other areas to indirectly support the new machines.

i hate hearing these stories, the more computers and robots do the more unemployed there are fighting over the jobs currently available. the more this happens the more likely it becomes that the jobs available do not cover the amount who are unemployed.

as technology gets better the more companies opt for technology to do the work over real people, the reasons are obvious from a business point of view, no breaks, no complaining, no sick days, no holidays etc.

it is not so simple to just find another job for some, especially when the amount of human jobs goes down and the amount of unemployed keeps going up. it means some will always be left unemployed regardless and these people will only increase.

this is effecting most countries. and that is without the economic situation.

reply to post by eLPresidente


You sound like you know all about all Foxconn. This is all new to me, and while you may think I'm all caught up ina sensational title that isn't so sentsational. The facts are clear. This company is know known it's hellish work conditions, as is most places in China, I guess, & of course other areas of the world. You also sound like you know of the suicides and the stories behind them? Or are you just telling me to look up info you yourself are not aware of? If you do know why those people killed themselves, please educate me. On paper it does sound nice thy have dorms (wonder what life is like in one of those) & they offer school, but that's on paper. I'd love to see what daily life is like there. So i will do a search, and hopefully I'll find something, but being from censorship China, I'm not holding my breathe

Originally posted by Swills
reply to post by eLPresidente

 

You sound like you know all about all Foxconn. This is all new to me, and while you may think I'm all caught up ina sensational title an ATS made up, the facts are clear. This company is know known it's hellish work conditions, as is most places in China, I guess, & of course other areas of the world. You also sound like you know of the suicides and the stories behind them? Or are you just telling me to look up info you yourself are not aware of? If you do know why those people killed themselves, please educate me. On paper it does sound nice thy have dorms (wonder what life is like in one of those) & they offer school, but that's on paper. I'd love to see what daily life is like there. So i will do a search, and hopefully I'll find something, but being from censorship China, I'm not holding my breathe

No I don't know a lot about FoxxConn but I do know there is more to the story than everybody thinks, it is up to yourself to do the investigation.

If you think you can't find information on the internet because China sensors things, please think again. There are tons of journalistic/government leaks in China that help get out crucial news so people learn. The CCP even has to put strict holds on their own state owned enterprise news agencies. Yes, they control as much as they can but the people will know the truth, just like in the U.S. You think ATS is the only one of it's kind? No...