Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Adlink Technology Inc (凌華科技) have formed a robotic venture that aims to use “swarm technology” to create robots that can communicate with one another on the factory floor to optimize production efficiency.
Hon Hai is Apple Inc’s leading iPhone assembler and the world’s largest contract electronics maker, while Adlink supplies industrial computers and Internet of Things solutions.
Through a subsidiary, Hyield Venture Capital Co (鴻揚創投), Hon Hai holds a 51 percent stake in autonomous mobile robot (AMR) developer FARobot (法博智能移動), while Adlink owns the remaining 49 percent. Together, the two companies put up NT$200 million (US$6.82 million) in capital for the new venture, which opened its doors on Wednesday.
Photo courtesy of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co
FARobot general manager Ryan Chen (陳家榜) told the Taipei Times via telephone yesterday that “swarm autonomy” is a concept from the field of robotics.
It utilizes data distribution service technology to enable robots to share information with each other in a decentralized manner, he said.
“They are like ants or bees, and each individual unit is getting constant feedback from the others so they can work as a team,” he said.
This ability to adapt to change in real time is key to optimizing productivity, he said.
“The factory of the future is very fast-moving and full of changes,” he said. “The same production line could be making one product in the morning and another in the afternoon.”
“Our biggest challenge is to deliver the right raw material or components at the right time to the right place,” Chen said. “This will reduce the amount of time spent waiting rather than in operation.”
FARobot’s AMRs are to be deployed in Hon Hai factories within three years, he said.
“Hon Hai is the factory of the world so we can prove our concept there first, but of course we would want to expand our market after that,” he said.
At the opening ceremony at FARobot headquarters in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和), Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said the collaboration capitalizes on the strengths of each partner.
“With FARobot’s swarm technology and the respective domain knowledge of Hon Hai and Adlink, we can hope to build the foundation of a robotic business that will reach many industries,” Liu said.
Adlink chairman Jim Liu (劉鈞) said that FARobot would provide “smart factories with smart logistic solutions.”
“It is not enough just to make one machine, we must make a group of machines that can communicate with each other and cooperate,” he said.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
RSS