The 2008 Taipei International Robot Show opened at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall I in Xinyi District (信義) yesterday, featuring the locally designed BeRobot, which, at 15.3cm, set a Guinness World Record as the smallest humanoid robot.
Ministry of Economic Affairs statistics indicated that local companies had invested NT$5.83 billion (US$191.85 million) in the intelligent robot industry.
“Since 2005, the government has included the robotics industry in its national development plan and aims to make Taiwan a global manufacturing and design center for intelligent robotics by 2015, hoping to boost the annual production value to NT$250 billion” from less than NT$40 billion, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said at the expo’s opening yesterday.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
To achieve this goal, the government has invested NT$35 million this year to assist the industry in product development, which has benefited 35 companies and should generate a production value of at least NT$1.4 billion, a report by the industrial development bureau said.
The BeRobot weighs 250kg and was developed by the Taoyuan-based GeStream Technology Inc (極趣科技).
BeRobot can be controlled by remote control or by vocal command and can perform a wide range of actions, including walking, dancing, push-ups and even Tai Chi.
BeRobot can also transform into various animal forms and is mainly used for educational and entertainment purposes, the company said.
GeStream Technology chief operating officer Sean Chang (張合右) said yesterday that the company received recognition for its Guinness World Record in January for the smallest robot to be mass produced.
Chang expects the company to sell between 3,000 and 5,000 units of BeRobot — priced at NT$16,000 — this year, with 500 to 600 units on the domestic market.
Chang said that the company had invested almost NT$40 million in research and development for the product over the past four years.
The company expected sales of BeRobot to help it turn a profit this year.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS