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.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.2 and NT$0.3 per liter respectively, after international crude oil prices increased last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week snapped a two-week losing streak as the geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine turned increasingly tense, CPC said in a statement. News that some oil production facilities in Alberta, Canada, were shut down due to wildfires and that US-Iran nuclear talks made no progress also helped push oil prices to a significant weekly gain, Formosa said
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS