To those of you who scoffed at Steve Wozniak when he said that machines will one day take over as superior beings, leaving us humans as the “dogs of the house,” take note: It seems Woz’ vision is very much becoming a reality for some Foxconn workers, who are set to be replaced by robots over the next three years.
The Foxconn factories in China are where many of Apple’s popular gadgets are assembled, including the iPhone, iPad and iPod. It already employs 10,000 robots, in addition to 1.2 million people, however, its human workforce seems set to reduce significantly over the next three years, according to Xinhuanet, as one million robots are brought in to take their place:
The robots will be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers.
Though its unclear how many workers these robots are set to replace, they will undoubtedly leave a large number of Foxconn workers unemployed. However, they are expected to cut labor costs and increase efficiency at the plants, which have recently received a lot of negative press for their poor working conditions and a string of employee suicides.
