5/14/2012

For years I have railed about Japan’s humanoid robots that don’t actually have any useful function: Japan hits a dead-end for robots (3Yen | 2010-07-17, as quoted by The Independent newspaper, UK).
Finally, there’s some good news about Japanese robot industry, which normally wastes its efforts on useless anthropromorphic robot love dolls* and silly robo-companion toys**.

Canon eyes robot-only production for cameras
The Associated Press | May 14, 2012—Canon Inc. is moving toward fully automating digital camera production in an effort to cut costs…
…Canon began using the “cell” production method, in which a team of workers or one worker puts together a major part, rather than doing a simple task over and over. In recent years, robots have become so much a part of this cell production, Canon calls it man-machine cell.” “Eventually, human involvement will be phased out…machine-only production will likely be completed in the next few years, perhaps as soon as 2015 …more…

Although this may sound like bad news for Japanese workers, it isn’t. They have been all have been fired as Japanese manufacturers have moved production to move to China and India to eascape damage from the soaring yen. A fully-robotic manufacturing lines would stem the hollowing-out of Japan Inc. as higher paying jobs would be created in the robot R&D, manufacturing and maintance.