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.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
Zimbabwe’s ban on raw lithium exports is forcing Chinese miners to rethink their strategy, speeding up plans to process the metal locally instead of shipping it to China’s vast rechargeable battery industry. The country is Africa’s largest lithium producer and has one of the world’s largest reserves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Zimbabwe already banned the export of lithium ore in 2022 and last year announced it would halt exports of lithium concentrates from January next year. However, on Wednesday it imposed the ban with immediate effect, leaving unclear what the lithium mining sector would do in the
RSS