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America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

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Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#201

Post by paganel »

jawiggins wrote: post #181
paganel wrote: post #134

Yes, China is winning, but at what cost? Leaving the stupid The Economist-list memes aside, the West has put itself all by itself in this position, for too long it had thought that it could still rule the world based on the services industries and on the financialization of the world economy. It seems like they bet wrong.

> Leaving the stupid The Economist-list memes aside What are you referring to?

Something like this [1].

I've singled out The Economist because I used to read them until not that long ago so that I can confirm first-hand that they also use that rhetoric (but can't be bothered to look for an online source right now).

Later edit: A X [2] post pointing to an Economist article [3] that does just that, but, as I said, the examples are too numerous, just purchase a Economist issue and go through their China section, you'll see it right there

[1] https://x.com/slipknothooh/status/1433496026795630598

[2] https://x.com/Liberation_Blk/status/1690911685312126976

[3] https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2023/08/08/what-does-xi-j...

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#202

Post by Hikikomori »

rtp4me wrote: post #130
sieabahlpark wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, thanks for plainly stating why we need manufacturing back to the states.

Yes, and I think this is the core motivation behind the Trump messaging - bring it back to the US if possible. In fact, he wants to bring back commercial and maritime ship building back[1]. Pretty cool! Hopefully this will employ lots of people. [1] https://news.usni.org/2025/03/05/trumps-make-shipbuilding-gr...

Gonna build boats with steel and aluminium tariffs at 50% or more? Good luck with that.

This isn't something you turn around in a few years by adding tariffs, it's a long term strategy that requires high investments and tariffs. Like the chip act, but Biden did that so that cant happen either.

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#203

Post by gertlex »

Long article. Mostly interesting!

Surprising that they skip over autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in their survey of types, but perhaps that's because it's a weird interstitial with high interaction with Humans for less-general usecases (material movement, but no material handling/auto-interfacing with other automation besides e.g. an attached conveyor). Also, less clear success in the market. I think Locus robotics probably qualifies as the most widely used AMRs (vs Kiva/Amazon being posterchild for AGVs)

This article, like many conversations I've had, covers "making competitive hardware", but skips a lot of the "how to do things with the robots" successfully /for multiple uses/, which is also a hard problem.

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#204

Post by [deleted] »

gertlex wrote: post #203

Long article. Mostly interesting! Surprising that they skip over autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in their survey of types, but perhaps that's because it's a weird interstitial with high interaction with Humans for less-general usecases (material movement, but no material handling/auto-interfacing with other automation besides e.g. an attached conveyor). Also, less clear success in the market. I think Locus robotics p…

[deleted]

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#205

Post by Hikikomori »

rtp4me wrote: post #123
Joel_Mckay wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, no one sane will invest in building factory systems on US soil under a Kakistocracy. Robot platforms are already a difficult business model in the private sector. With the exception of robot vacuums the market just isn't viable in the US yet. Best of luck =3

It seems Honda just decided to produce the next Civic in Indiana. See [1]. [1] https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/honda-...

Quick peek on Wikipedia tells me that they've been producing Civic there since 2008.

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#206

Post by mercutio2 »

rtp4me wrote: post #130
sieabahlpark wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, thanks for plainly stating why we need manufacturing back to the states.

Yes, and I think this is the core motivation behind the Trump messaging - bring it back to the US if possible. In fact, he wants to bring back commercial and maritime ship building back[1]. Pretty cool! Hopefully this will employ lots of people. [1] https://news.usni.org/2025/03/05/trumps-make-shipbuilding-gr...

“Back” is in the mid 1800’s, you mean?

Or “back” as in when we built astonishingly expensive liberty ships for a large fraction of our GDP in WW2?

Because since the move to steel ships, there’s never been a time the US has been good at building ships.

Brian Potter goes into great detail on this [0], it’s a great read.

[0] https://www.construction-physics.com/p/why-cant-the-us-build...

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#207

Post by jorvi »

dluan wrote: post #196
thenobsta wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there particularly good news sources to follow? I'm not sure what to follow to get either the source material or good commentary.

Right now, I try to consume content directly from the dragon's mouth with official news and reports, but it requires a bit of experience knowing how to read between the lines and having a strong bullshit parser. Similarly, most English language analysis from mainstream media is comically bad - CNN and American news outlets sent reporters to Beijing this week and bombarded attendees and delegates walking into the cong…

TP Huang has a pretty good substack[0].

Its a nice insider look. And its not fake stuff, its just looked at through the most red-yellow colored glasses there are.

[0] https://tphuang.substack.com/

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#208

Post by megaman821 »

paganel wrote: post #200
megaman821 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is manufacturing capacity, not jobs. A factory of ten people and a few hundred robots is fine. Other types of manufacturing like chips, aerospace and medical equipment are high value and low workforce. Tariffs and industrial policy may increase the US' manufacturing capacity, but don't expect to see many manufacturing jobs from it.

> A factory of ten people and a few hundred robots is fine Don't think that that is true when it comes to the steel industry when you include all the verticals, i.e. mineral extraction + transportation of said minerals + energy production + transportation of said energy. You need qualified people for that, lots of them. And I've yet to see the steel factory that can be run with only 10, 25 or even 100 people.

Yes, 10 people is a gross exaggeration, but manufacturing output has remained the same while manufacturing employment has fallen over the last few decades. Advanced robotics will continue the trend even if policy pushes manufacturing output up. There is no realistic way to drastically increase manufacturing employment.

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#209

Post by mercutio2 »

chrisco255 wrote: post #182
watwut wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America seems to be trying to make war, unexpectedly with Canada. Also, the only coalition America seems to be interested in is the one with Russia. Also, multiple foreign countries like Russia are trying to make war right now.

America is nowhere close to going to war with Canada. Tariffs are import taxes, not weapons of war. Good lord.

Telling a sovereign nation, and the US’s closest ally, it should become the 51st US state isn’t making war, but it’s way more than imposing tariffs in contravention of treaties this president signed in his last term.

Re: America Is Missing The New Labor Economy – Robotics Part 1

#210

Post by themaninthedark »

dluan wrote: post #177
rtp4me wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems Honda just decided to produce the next Civic in Indiana. See [1]. [1] https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/honda-...

You're pointing out one plant making one model in one city. Chinese EV manufacturers are rolling out new models every week.

Does the number of new models mean a good thing?

It I had a watch company and I rolled out new models of watches every week;

1. Either there would be so little variation that people would have choice paralysis. 2. People would wonder why I couldn't keep a consistent product line with concerns of product quality. 3. People would have major concerns about repairs and service parts availability since the next new things was not a couple years ago but quite literally, last week.

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