New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
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Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#2$0.33 per shirt, anywhere in the world, is nearly as cheap as the cheapest sweatshop markets.
I expect most commentary will look at this using a US vs China thing, but I'm more worried about SE Asia and Africa. They need to climb up the development ladder that China's already 1/2-way up.
Say what you will about clothing and sneaker sweatshops, but they were a tried and tested method for building up the basics of an industrial economy. South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong wouldn't have gotten to where they are today as quickly without them. How will Kenya develop?
Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#3Why should I be surprised. That's been happening since 1700´s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution]
Perhaps that will be the way the most developed Countries will return some of the production lines to them.
Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#4I can't quite decide which will be the tipping point for robots replacing humans: Agriculture, food service, or garments. The first seems ripe (no pun intended) for disruption but apparently often requires human skill to identify products. The second seems more likely, as fast food is mostly automated with some human intervention; coupled with self-checkout technology in any language, and it might work. Garments, however, I'm not sure that's the industry. Certainly replacing 17 workers with a single robot (costs aside) seems like a good start, but this also seems like an industry that could uproot and go somewhere else. From America, to China, to Southeast Asia, Africa, and beyond, to wherever human capital can be had for less.
Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#5$0.33 per shirt, anywhere in the world, is nearly as cheap as the cheapest sweatshop markets. I expect most commentary will look at this using a US vs China thing, but I'm more worried about SE Asia and Africa. They need to climb up the development ladder that China's already 1/2-way up. Say what you will about clothing and sneaker sweatshops, but they were a tried and tested method for building up the basics of an i…
What do you think will be the industry that shifts from China to SE Asia and Africa? I feel like clothing is the likeliest because of it's relative simplicity, compared to other things.
Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#6This reminds me about when Bill Gates make that comment saying that raising the minimal wage could make the cost trade-off of investing in automation worthwhile [1].
On one hand, people need living wages. But on the other hand, I think we're witnessing what Bill Gates is talking about here.
What's the solution? Gates has floated the idea of taxing robots.
[1]: http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-bots-are-taking-away-jobs-2014-3Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#7This reminds me about when Bill Gates make that comment saying that raising the minimal wage could make the cost trade-off of investing in automation worthwhile [1]. On one hand, people need living wages. But on the other hand, I think we're witnessing what Bill Gates is talking about here. What's the solution? Gates has floated the idea of taxing robots. [1]: http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-bots-are-taking…
He is hardly the first person to make that observation - or even the first noteworthy person. This is a debate as old as economics.
Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#8$0.33 per shirt, anywhere in the world, is nearly as cheap as the cheapest sweatshop markets. I expect most commentary will look at this using a US vs China thing, but I'm more worried about SE Asia and Africa. They need to climb up the development ladder that China's already 1/2-way up. Say what you will about clothing and sneaker sweatshops, but they were a tried and tested method for building up the basics of an i…
Not sure how accurate.
I think clothing has already moved away from China. I have shirts made in Bangladesh. And according to [1], workers get paid $0.12 per shirt.
Like you said, $0.33 vs $0.12 is super close it seems.
[1]: http://www.ecouterre.com/infographic-how-much-does-that-14-t-shirt-really-cost/Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#9$0.33 per shirt, anywhere in the world, is nearly as cheap as the cheapest sweatshop markets. I expect most commentary will look at this using a US vs China thing, but I'm more worried about SE Asia and Africa. They need to climb up the development ladder that China's already 1/2-way up. Say what you will about clothing and sneaker sweatshops, but they were a tried and tested method for building up the basics of an i…
I don't see this as bad. Being able to manufacture simple things just increases how complex things can be for a certain cost.
CNC and automated process control isn't killing Asian metalworking.
Re: New t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers
#10This reminds me about when Bill Gates make that comment saying that raising the minimal wage could make the cost trade-off of investing in automation worthwhile [1]. On one hand, people need living wages. But on the other hand, I think we're witnessing what Bill Gates is talking about here. What's the solution? Gates has floated the idea of taxing robots. [1]: http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-bots-are-taking…
But what's a robot? Is a 3D printer a robot? (it has moving parts and builds things) is the Google Adwords code a robot? (it sure makes a lot of money) a quant hedge fund? Do you tax all computers by cost or value produced?
Seems simpler to tax companies for making money.
EDIT: We won't need middle-manager bots that show each other powerpoints all day. What "robot" would get taxed for the disappearance of that function?