It May Surprise You Which Countries Are Replacing Workers with Robots the Fastest Hal Sirkin - The World Post
go to original May 19, 2016

Robot Revolution: China plans to replace workers with AI (RT)

Automation has been responsible for improvements in manufacturing productivity for decades.

Advanced robotics will accelerate this trend. Machines, after all, can perform many manufacturing tasks more efficiently, effectively and consistently than humans, leading to increased output, better quality and less waste. And machines don’t require health insurance, coffee breaks, maternity leave or sleep.

The industrial world realizes this and robot sales have been surging, increasing 29 percent in 2014 alone, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

Of the more than 229,000 industrial robots sold in 2014 (the most recent statistics available), more than 57,000 were sold to Chinese manufacturers, 29,300 to Japanese companies, 26,200 to companies in the U.S., 24,700 to South Koreans and more than 20,000 to German companies. By comparison, robot sales in India totaled just 2,100, IFR reported.

None of this should surprise us. Automation makes little or no economic sense in countries where there is comparatively little manufacturing or where abundant cheap labor is readily available. The basic economic trade-off between the cost of labor and the cost of automation is the primary consideration. Labor laws, cultural considerations, the availability of capital and the age and skill levels of local workers also are important factors.

Read the rest at The Huffington Post

Related: Wendy’s Is Replacing Cashiers with Kiosks Because They’ll Work for Less (Tech.Mic)

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