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> it costs barely $8 an hour to use a robot for spot welding in the auto industry, compared to $25 for a worker—and the gap is only going to widen. This is jus

by thro32 10y ago

> it costs barely $8 an hour to use a robot for spot welding in the auto industry, compared to $25 for a worker—and the gap is only going to widen. This is just wrong. Author does not know much about welding or car manufacturing. - Car welding is a best case for robots. Single task repeated many times exactly the same way. Try different case and you get $1M/hour. - $25/hour human cost is too low. With pauses, errors, delays... $100/hour would be more reasonable. - Germany is exactly in this situation, but does not have problem with unemployment.

nickthemagicman 10y ago
Same thing with automated driving. Open interstate is fine, try to navigate Boston rush hour in a construction zone...
- Fjolsvith 10y ago
  I am sure that Microsoft and Google are racing to have their AI be the first to do that.
lujim 10y ago
And here we see how news written by people without industry experience meant to be consumed by people without industry experience for the purpose of promoting a political idea can use pieces of real information to promote something less than the truth. Next time you want to see if you trust a certain source for any of your information, pay close attention when they report on a topic where you have a lot of experience. As someone with a professional aviation background, watching CNN cover any aviation topic causes me physical pain.
maxerickson 10y ago
It's quite likely they are quoting the actual costs from 2 different car plants. (that would make them highly task specific, but it would reflect the difference in welding costs for producing cars on a high volume line)
- thro32 10y ago
  I checked linked study: > A human welder today earns around $25 per hour (including benefits), while the equivalent operating cost per hour for a robot is around $8 when installation, maintenance, and the operating costs of all hardware, software, and peripherals are amortized over a five-year depreciation period. So human cost does not include total cost, just labour. Comparable cost would be around $100
fixxer 10y ago
And this was published under the banner of MIT without 'editorial' or 'opinion'. This is fact! /s Reads like another partisan puff piece griping about the election to me, which is a shame because the underlying concept (automation) is interesting to me, but the conclusion (manufacturing is doomed) is hyperbole.

by thro32 10y ago

nickthemagicman 10y ago

Same thing with automated driving. Open interstate is fine, try to navigate Boston rush hour in a construction zone...

Fjolsvith 10y ago
I am sure that Microsoft and Google are racing to have their AI be the first to do that.

lujim 10y ago

And here we see how news written by people without industry experience meant to be consumed by people without industry experience for the purpose of promoting a political idea can use pieces of real information to promote something less than the truth. Next time you want to see if you trust a certain source for any of your information, pay close attention when they report on a topic where you have a lot of experience. As someone with a professional aviation background, watching CNN cover any aviation topic causes me physical pain.

maxerickson 10y ago

It's quite likely they are quoting the actual costs from 2 different car plants. (that would make them highly task specific, but it would reflect the difference in welding costs for producing cars on a high volume line)

thro32 10y ago
I checked linked study: > A human welder today earns around $25 per hour (including benefits), while the equivalent operating cost per hour for a robot is around $8 when installation, maintenance, and the operating costs of all hardware, software, and peripherals are amortized over a five-year depreciation period. So human cost does not include total cost, just labour. Comparable cost would be around $100

fixxer 10y ago

And this was published under the banner of MIT without 'editorial' or 'opinion'. This is fact! /s Reads like another partisan puff piece griping about the election to me, which is a shame because the underlying concept (automation) is interesting to me, but the conclusion (manufacturing is doomed) is hyperbole.