iPhone 6产能吃紧？机器人来帮忙

    你的下一部智能手机，很有可能是由机器人组装的。

    据台湾媒体IT Home报道称，苹果供应商富士康显然已接近于用机器人取代其生产线上的部分人力。富士康将这些已经进入最后测试阶段的机器人称为“foxbots”。担任富士康台湾母公司首席执行官的郭台铭在最近召开的股东大会上表示，公司预计将引进约1万台foxbots，来帮助跟上苹果最新手机iPhone 6的供货需求。该机型有望于今年秋季上市。

    这批机器人据悉每台的造价高达2.5万美元，一名机器人每年大约能组装近3万部设备。这意味着第一批机器人的年产能将达到约3亿部。富士康目前在中国各大工厂总共雇用了约120万名员工。在中国，富士康员工曾举行过游行示威，抗议低工资和糟糕的工作条件，甚至还出现了数起工人自杀事件。

    富士康使用机器人的消息已谈不上是什么新闻，公司在2011年就曾透露将开始在生产线上使用更多的机器人，甚至预言机器人的数量将在2014年达到100万台。

    去年10月，苹果曾在年度报告中表示，公司计划投入约105亿美元开发新供应链技术，其中包括用于组装生产线的机器人。（财富中文网）

    There’s a chance your next smartphone could be assembled by a robot.

    Apple supplier Foxconn is apparently close to replacing some of the assembly-line workers in its factories with robots, called “foxbots,” that are in their final testing stages, according to IT Home. Terry Gou, the CEO of Taiwan-based supplier’s parent company, said in a recent shareholder meeting that about 10,000 foxbots are expected to be put to work to help keep up with the demand for Apple’s next smartphone, the iPhone 6, which is expected to hit the market this fall.

    The robots reportedly cost as much as $25,000 each and they can churn out roughly 30,000 devices each annually, which would mean a yield of about 300 million devices a year from the first batch. Foxconn currently employs about 1.2 million humans in several factories across China, where workers in the past have protested low wages and poor conditions, with some workers even committing suicide.

    The news from Foxconn is a long time coming, as the company said in 2011 it would begin to use more robots on its assembly lines and even predicted at the time that it would have about a million robots at work by 2014.

    In October, Apple said in its annual report that the company planned to spend roughly $10.5 billion on new supply-chain technologies, including assembly robots.