To get a jump on rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. and lay the groundwork for new products, Apple is spending more on the machines that do the behind-the-scenes work of mass producing iPhones, iPads and other gadgets. That includes equipment to polish the new iPhone 5c’s colorful plastic, laser and milling machines to carve the MacBook’s aluminum body, and testing gear for the iPhone and iPad camera lens, said people with knowledge of the company’s manufacturing methods, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

The spending, which Apple outlined in its fiscal 2014 capital-expenditure forecast (AAPL:US), underscores how the world’s most valuable company is diving deeper into designing and inventing technology for its manufacturing process. Apple is increasingly striking exclusive machinery deals, said the people familiar with the work, outspending peers on the tools that it then places in the factories of its suppliers, many of which are in Asia.

http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/630036?type=bloomberg

Over the last half-year, Google has quietly acquired seven technology companies in an effort to create a new generation of robots. And the engineer heading the effort is Andy Rubin, the man who built Google’s Android software into the world’s dominant force in smartphones.

The company is tight-lipped about its specific plans, but the scale of the investment, which has not been previously disclosed, indicates that this is no cute science project.

At least for now, Google’s robotics effort is not something aimed at consumers. Instead, the company’s expected targets are in manufacturing — like electronics assembly, which is now largely manual — and competing with companies like Amazon in retailing, according to several people with specific knowledge of the project.

A realistic case, according to several specialists, would be automating portions of an existing supply chain that stretches from a factory floor to the companies that ship and deliver goods to a consumer’s doorstep.

“The opportunity is massive,” said Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the M.I.T. Center for Digital Business. “There are still people who walk around in factories and pick things up in distribution centers and work in the back rooms of grocery stores.”

Google has recently started experimenting with package delivery in urban areas with its Google Shopping service, and it could try to automate portions of that system. The shopping service, available in a few locations like San Francisco, is already making home deliveries for companies like Target, Walgreens and American Eagle Outfitters.

Perhaps someday, there will be automated delivery to the doorstep, which for now is dependent on humans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/technology/google-puts-money-on-robots-using-the-man-behind-android.html?ref=technology&_r=1&pagewanted=all

A realistic case, according to several specialists, would be automating portions of an existing supply chain that stretches from a factory floor to the companies that ship and deliver goods to a consumer's doorstep.

"The opportunity is massive," said Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the M.I.T. Center for Digital Business. "There are still people who walk around in factories and pick things up in distribution centers and work in the back rooms of grocery stores."

In terms of the massive opportunity, it certainly isn't for the middle class. Mr. McAfee himself discussed this issue in a June piece from the M.I.T. Technology Review, fittingly titled "How Technology Destroys Jobs":

New technologies are "encroaching into human skills in a way that is completely unprecedented," McAfee says, and many middle-class jobs are right in the bull's-eye; even relatively high-skill work in education, medicine, and law is affected. "The middle seems to be going away," he adds. "The top and bottom are clearly getting farther apart." While technology might be only one factor, says McAfee, it has been an "underappreciated" one, and it is likely to become increasingly significant.

And what about the people who make a living in the back rooms of grocery stores? Should we simply write them off as left behind because machines are more productive?

Here's more from the Times' on Google's Andy Rubin, the engineer behind the Android operating system who is now heading up the company's robotics effort:

"I have a history of making my hobbies into a career," Mr. Rubin said in a telephone interview. "This is the world's greatest job. Being an engineer and a tinkerer, you start thinking about what you would want to build for yourself."

He used the example of a windshield wiper that has enough "intelligence" to operate when it rains, without human intervention, as a model for the kind of systems he is trying to create. That is consistent with a vision put forward by the Google co-founder Larry Page, who has argued that technology should be deployed wherever possible to free humans from drudgery and repetitive tasks.

Well, there are a lot of people who earn honest livings from drudgery and repetitive tasks.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/12/05/drones-amazon-google-robots/3880409/

Now, companies that want to make things here often have trouble finding qualified workers for specialized jobs and American-made components for their products. And politicians’ promises that American manufacturing means an abundance of new jobs is complicated — yes, it means jobs, but on nowhere near the scale there was before, because machines have replaced humans at almost every point in the production process.

Take Parkdale: The mill here produces 2.5 million pounds of yarn a week with about 140 workers. In 1980, that production level would have required more than 2,000 people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/business/us-textile-factories-return.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/science/05legal.html

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/railroads/192232-feinstein-automate-trains-to-prevent-crashes

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/07/gordon-versus-the-androids/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#24588710)

[...]

Compare that with robots like "Baxter," a manufacturing bot from Boston-based Rethink Robotics. Retailers including toymaker K'Nex put the $22,000 machine to work in a warehouses alongside human staffers, who can program "him" manually. Baxter even has a screen for a face, making him look almost ... cuddly.

"There's a reason that they add a cute face to him -- his eyes are meant to indicate to people which way he's headed, for example," Davin said. "This kind of thing adds to the idea of robots and people being able to work together."

So get ready: Your new coworker might be a robot.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/17/technology/enterprise/robot-business/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#24668744)

B B B B BUT WHY ISNT ANYONE BUYING ARE SHIT???

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#24681651)

http://swampland.time.com/2013/12/22/navy-underwater-drone/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#24694675)

Sentry’s robots are smaller than those used by Weber; Mr. Sanguinito said they built two-foot-deep pads of rebar-reinforced concrete for each of four new robots, a four-month project that was completed in November.

The investment lets Sentry increase productivity, Mr. Sanguinito said. “Probably what took 12 people to do, these four robots can do,” he said. “It’s more reliable and more steady than a human and they don’t get ergonomic issues.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/business/companies-shifting-production-expand-to-accommodate-robots.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#24726126)

"We've seen all types -- robotic welders, robotic wire makers and clip makers. You're seeing them being integrated into the system to increase volume, increase consistency and quality," he said.

SentrySafe's robots increase productivity, said Michael Sanguinito, a SentrySafe plant engineer.

"Probably what took 12 people to do, these four robots can do," he said. "It's more reliable and more steady than a human and they don't get ergonomic issues."

SentrySafe also was able to cut down on the number of errors with the new robots, as well as decrease maintenance time.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140119/ARTICLE/140119586/2055/NEWS?template=printpicart

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#24865670)

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/what-jobs-will-the-robots-take/283239/

http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/operations/kensho-builds-siri-like-virtual-market-r/240165546

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#24884491)

"We think of Baxter as a workforce multiplier. Baxter paired up with American workers means the overall output of the productivity of that factory goes up," he said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101362018

LOL at workers sharing those gains.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/9-jobs-robots-already-do-better-than-you-2014-01-27

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#24906929)

Now, “pickers” at the facility stand in one place and wait for robots to bring four-foot-by-six-foot shelving units to them, sparing them what amounted to as much as 20 miles a day of walking through the warehouse. Employees at some robot-equipped warehouses are expected to pick and scan at least 300 items an hour, compared with 100 under the old system, current and former workers said.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment.

The robots are the fruits of Amazon’s 2012 purchase of Kiva Systems Inc. for $775 million. In May, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos told investors at Amazon’s annual meeting that he planned to deploy 10,000 Kiva robots by year-end, up from 1,400 at the time.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazon-deploys-robots-to-speed-delivery-1416433198

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2435014&forum_id=2#26757154)