Foxconn robots better, but still not precise enough to assemble Apple iPhones

9 years ago

Back in 2011, Foxconn’s CEO (Terry Gou) revealed that the company plans to automate its production line by year 2014, by ’employing’ one million robots which we all came to refer to as ‘Foxbots,'” Mihai Matei reports for G 4 Games.

“While Foxconn made some progress in this area, and although Foxbots have been used in the company’s production line ever since June, the first generation of robots isn’t precise enough to be used in the entire assembly line. The Foxbots are given menial tasks, which fall more in the lines of tightening screws, assembling larger exterior components and so on,” Matei reports. “Now, according to a Chinese financial website, it has become very clear to Foxconn that the technology is not there yet, and that Terry Gou’s original plan to rely on a million robots in the assembly line by 2014 was more than ambitious.”

“The Chinese financial publication known as Jiemian recently reported that Foxconn is facing various difficulties in making its Foxbots good enough for the complete automation program,” Matei reports. “One of the main issues is that these robots are simply not precise enough, having a production accuracy of 0.05 mm while assembling Apple products requires an accuracy of 0.02 mm.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: The robots will come eventually. There are too many benefits. They don’t get tired. They don’t make mistakes. They don’t jump off roofs. They don’t have tubs o’ lard lying about them in one-fat-ass plays. Etc.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Dan K.” for the heads up.]