Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

asia.nikkei.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 284 posts

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#131

Post by pstrateman »

filoleg wrote: post #122
baybal2 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Tesla model S was made to be manufactured on a "lights out" line, it will look like their Cybertruck.

What does "lights out" mean here? Is it a way to describe a nearly fully-automated production line? If that's the case, then aren't they using it for Model 3/Y already? If yes, then I have to disagree with you, because neither of those cars look anything like Cybertruck, even stylistically. EDIT: thanks for explanation in the replies, it makes sense. If anyone has any additional insight as to how it affects productio…

It's called lights out cause the machines don't need lights, so why pay for them?

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#133

Post by arcticfox »

baybal2 wrote: post #114

Fully automated assembly lines rarely make sense economically even in Europe, and Japan. A "lights out" factory needs a really expensive, complex widget to make, but one which doesn't vary, or change over time much. Game consoles are exactly like: long product life times, and can be engineered specifically with automated lines in mind, without compromises. Robotic factories are by no means a final solution for manufa…

> Robotic factories are by no means a final solution for manufacturing.

Robotic factories are by no means a final solution for manufacturing...Yet

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#134

Post by andalusian_ipa »

zbrozek wrote: post #45

Lots of folks here are talking about the latency and throughput, but nobody is amazed at what the robots are doing. Plugging in cables and putting down tape is fiddly and hard. I'm super impressed that they elected to automate those things based on cost merit. Massive kudos to the manufacturing engineers who managed to pull that off.

Massive kudos to the newly unemployed!

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#135

Post by outworlder »

rusk wrote: post #11

God I love my PS4 - it has to be the peak of this class of machine. I can't imagine how it could be improved upon without going beyond the "box under the telly format". Incredible piece of machinery. I can't imagine the PS5 will be much more than an upgrade. In my opinion the second best console is the PS2. I love Nintendo but they're more like toys than hard core gaming and entertainment machines. PS2 up until PS4 w…

> I can't imagine the PS5 will be much more than an upgrade

An upgrade is very much needed. Mobile phones are surpassing the current generation of consoles.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#136

Post by owenmarshall »

jariel wrote: post #66

Powerful example of operational innovation, and that there is so much untapped opportunity we are not leveraging in so many areas. A company like Apple may not have the wherewithal or impetus to do something like this. When they need manufacturing, they are resigned to the traditional approach: China. Since labour is cheap there, and they just may not be thinking in these terms and may not have the wherewithal either…

> Note the eye-watering scale of the business however, quoted at nearly $100 Billion in sales, which is rather a lot of money indicating that it may take a product with a very long life cycle wherein there are considerable profits for this to be feasible.

You mention Apple. The iPhone SE 2 is basically "iPhone 11 guts in an iPhone 8 shell" – and as I understand it Apple went to software to handle things like the camera so they could keep the older generation optics and not change the body. That type of tick/tock cadence would support this nicely.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#137

Post by Sebb767 »

monksy wrote: post #123
Sebb767 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Android took off because it wasn't one manufacturer having control over the OS. Yet iOS really started that market and maintains its customers exactly because it's a single company controlling the OS (and doing it rather well, to be fair). And while its market share isn't that of Android, it can hardly be called a failure.

I would call that luck. As soon as Apple runs out of an audience that platform is dead. (Symbian could have done the same thing)

> As soon as Apple runs out of an audience that platform is dead.

That's true for any platform, isn't it?

I mean, I see your point about an open platform, but on something that's intended to 'just work' like a PS, trading openness for guaranteed working games and known-good [enough] quality is fair enough. The platform only needs to keep its side of the promise (and not be a monopoly, which would open another can of worms).

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#138

Post by rootusrootus »

Retric wrote: post #104
foxfired wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a interview of Elon Musk with MKBHD. He was precisely referring to this as being one of the issues when they were trying to automate the pipeline. The machines just couldn't plug a loose tube in its place. Maybe they should have consulted with Sony.

Tesla tried it because the technology was mostly ready back then. The difference is a PlayStation has vastly fewer cables, far simpler routing, and problems can more easily be fixed. People can physically pick up a PlayStation diagnosis the problem and then put it back, try to do that with a car.

Also, Sony has to hit a much lower price point, and they made about 10x as many consoles last year as Tesla made Model 3s. Both of those seem like they'd make the automation ROI better for Sony.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#139

Post by mrlala »

wnevets wrote: post #127
mrlala wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The controller completely serves it's purpose- replacement for a pure mouse control for non-controller native games. Anyone thinking they should always use a steam controller over a 360 controller for pure controller didn't understand the point of it.

> The controller completely serves it's purpose- replacement for a pure mouse control for non-controller native games. Maybe I didn't give it enough time but it definitely didn't do that for me. I gave up trying to use it as a mouse replacement and as a normal controller. Here's a video of Internet Superstar Rich Evans solving that problem much more effectively [0]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89qQy-rEUgg&fea…

And have you ever actually tried to use something like that? Because I have and it's insanely uncomfortable.

Look- if I don't want to sit in front of my computer but want to be in front of a big screen (projector in my case).. that's because I want to be able to sit back and relax.

Holding a controller I can sitback and relax, my wrist is not moving all over the place. I'm basically stationary except for my fingers. That is HUGE for me as I otherwise sit infront of a computer all day.

How in the world do you get comfortable sitting on a couch trying to use a keyboard and mouse to play a game?

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#140

Post by ornornor »

Pxtl wrote: post #116
_bxg1 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PS4 officially supports replacing the internal hard drive, and that's not even getting into the question of repairs

If I could have one change to electronics manufacturing, it would be a ban on glue for non-waterproof devices. Most repair-hostile trend in history.

I took apart my PS4 Pro several times since I own it. It’s very easy to do, nothing is glued, and the plastic clips that hold the cover in place don’t break when you unsnap and snap them back.

The only thing is an obnoxious warranty void sticker that delaminates if you don’t lift it carefully but even then I don’t think it’s legal to void the warranty with a sticker (Switzerland, bought from a EU retailer)

Post reply on HN