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Stupid question: Could it be that the lack of manufacturing in the US (when compared to China) is hurting the robotics industry?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Animats 9y ago
US manufacturing output is at an all time high.[1] (Finally back from the 2008 crash.) Much manufacturing is automated, but outside automotive, doesn't need robots. Mostly special purpose machinery. A pick and place machine for assembling PC boards is not considered a robot, although it has much the same parts as an industrial robot arm, including a vision system. [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OUTMS https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OUTMS
- saikat 9y ago
  US manufacturing output has had a boom because we include natural gas and oil as manufacturing output, not just because of automation.
  - rebootthesystem 9y ago
    I would argue that US manufacturing has had a "boom" because no other option existed. When you find yourself at the bottom of a deep hole the only way to go is up. That's what happened with the crash of 2008. See the chart posted by Animats, here again for convenience: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OUTMS https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OUTMS As an aside, I love it when politicians take credit for naturally occurring phenomena like this. Industry go pummeled during that crash and every single business worked hard to claw their way out of the ditch. And then politicians proclaim "The sun went down and we made it come up every morning for the last six years!". You couldn't make this shit up.
Symmetry 9y ago
We associate manufacturing with robotics because robotics has been very successful in factories. But growth in robotics is going to come from moving into spaces that aren't already full of robots. There are a number of companies that have moved into warehouses (the startup I work for among them) and probably you'll see shipment and retail stocking robots in production before too long.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

Animats 9y ago

US manufacturing output is at an all time high.[1] (Finally back from the 2008 crash.) Much manufacturing is automated, but outside automotive, doesn't need robots. Mostly special purpose machinery. A pick and place machine for assembling PC boards is not considered a robot, although it has much the same parts as an industrial robot arm, including a vision system. [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OUTMS https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OUTMS

saikat 9y ago
US manufacturing output has had a boom because we include natural gas and oil as manufacturing output, not just because of automation.
- rebootthesystem 9y ago
  I would argue that US manufacturing has had a "boom" because no other option existed. When you find yourself at the bottom of a deep hole the only way to go is up. That's what happened with the crash of 2008. See the chart posted by Animats, here again for convenience: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OUTMS https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OUTMS As an aside, I love it when politicians take credit for naturally occurring phenomena like this. Industry go pummeled during that crash and every single business worked hard to claw their way out of the ditch. And then politicians proclaim "The sun went down and we made it come up every morning for the last six years!". You couldn't make this shit up.

Symmetry 9y ago

We associate manufacturing with robotics because robotics has been very successful in factories. But growth in robotics is going to come from moving into spaces that aren't already full of robots. There are a number of companies that have moved into warehouses (the startup I work for among them) and probably you'll see shipment and retail stocking robots in production before too long.