Taiwan’s Workforce Development Agency (WDA) said it is offering vocational training courses on the development, design and fabrication of “smart” machinery and robots to help sharpen the competitive edge of jobseekers.
The courses might also help advance the government’s attempt to boost the Internet of Things (IOT) business that might evolve into the next bright spot, as the market for hardware devices becomes saturated.
The robot application courses are at the heart of an “Internet of Things Makers Base” at the Wuku Vocational Training Center, a facility operated by the WDA’s northern Taiwan branch office.
Participants will be given instructions and training on robot applications and innovative thinking to help them design programs and mobile device applications that enable users to control their robots, said Wang Chuang-mao (王創茂), an associate research fellow at the center.
Once the participants learn how to write programs and observe people’s needs in daily life, they will be able to identify possible opportunities and create industrial and service robot applications, Wang said
Industrial robots are mainly used as labor substitutes and as tools to improve the efficiency of production lines, he said, adding that the machines can help resolve the problem of rising labor costs and staff shortages due to low fertility rates.
Taiwan’s fertility rate was about 1.12 last year, the third-lowest in the world — higher only than Macao’s 0.94 and Singapore’s 0.81, according to the World Factbook compiled by the CIA.
Service robots make “smart” living possible, Wang said.
For example, by integrating a face detection system with cameras, companies can develop robot school patrols, which can upload images to a cloud where a detection system identifies strangers, he said.
According to Industrial Development Bureau data, Taiwan’s robot manufacturing sector last year generated an annual production value of about US$1.8 billion.
The figure suggests there is ample room for the industry to grow, the bureau said.
In separate news, Kamm Yai-yu, (鬫凱宇), a cofounder of Makerbar Taipei, which offers inventors and designers space and equipment to create products, said the attention of Taiwanese to wellbeing and the competitive spirit of Chinese reflect the different characters of makers from the two nations.
Kamm said the rise of the maker movement has been built on people getting access to manufacturing equipment, such as 3D printers and laser cutters, through computers.
For Taiwanese makers, solving a problem and meeting people’s needs rather than relying on producers is a way of life, Kamm said.
In comparison, makers in China focus on how to generate profits and are closer to entrepreneurs, said Kamm, who has traveled to Shenzhen, China, for exchanges with local makers.
Kamm also said China’s vast market has emboldened Chinese makers to test the commercial potential of their ideas.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six