New Generation of Manufacturing Robotics

choi

John Markoff, Skilled Work, Without the Worker; New wave of deft robots is changing global industry. New York Times, Aug 19, 2012 (front page).
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/1 ... lobal-industry.html
("'With these machines, we can make any consumer device in the world,' said Binne Visser, an electrical engineer who manages the Philips assembly line in Drachten")

Note:
(1) The report mentions a Philips "factory here [Drachten] in the Dutch countryside."
(a) Philips
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips
(founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips and his father Frederik as a family business[, for] the production of of carbon-filament lamps)
(b) Drachten
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drachten
(c) Later on the report remarks, "The assembly line here is made up of dozens of glass vages housing robots made by Adept Technology."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adept_Technology
(founded in 1983; headquarters in Pleasanton [of Alameda County, whose seat is Oakland], California)

(2) Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Race Against the Machine; How the digital revolution is accelerating innovation, driving productivity, and irreversibly transforming employment and economy. Digital Frontier Press, 2011 (e-book; 98 pages).

(3) The report states, "'At what pointdoes the chain saw replace Paul Bunyan?” asked Mike Dennison, an executive at Flextronics."
(a) chainsaw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainsaw
(section 5 History: MODERN chainsaw powered by electricity or gasoline appeared in 1926 and 1927, respectively)
(b) Paul Bunyan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan

is a fictional character.

(4) The report quotes Mr "Bran Ferren, a veteran roboticist and industrial product designer at Applied Minds" in Glendale, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendale,_California
(a city in Los Angeles County)

(5)
(a) The report identifies "the cavernous solar-panel factory run by Flextronics in Milpitas, South of San Francisco."

Milpitas, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milpitas,_California
(a city in Santa Clara County; with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north; section 2 Etymology of the name Milpitas)
(b) Forgive me for being incredulous, about the impact of this high-tech Flextronics factory. The fact is, world's largest and the second largest solar-panel producers are China and Taiwan, in that order. Whatever they say about China, it is unlikely Taiwan subsidizes its own makers--and no other nation has increased import duty for Taiwanese products (though US has on Chinese ones).

(6) The report then talks about "C & S, the nation's largest grocery wholesaler" and its warehouse robots "uilt by Symbotic, a start-up company based in the Boston area."
(a) C&S Whlesale Grocers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%26S_Wholesale_Grocers
(headquarters in Keene, New Hampshire;  founded by Israel Cohen and Abraham Siegel in 1918 in Worcester, Massachusetts)
(b) http://www.symbotic.com/

(7) Industrial Perception Inc
http://www.industrial-perception.com/