Companies have finally developed robots dexterous enough to
assemble consumer electronics products, such as smartphones,
according to The Wall Street Journal. Although robots have been
used for years in industrial manufacturing, until recently they
weren't flexible enough for intricate products or easy enough to
reprogram. In the quick product life cycles of small consumer
electronics devices, both qualities are key. But that's starting
to change, and electronics manufacturers are beginning to
embrace a new generation of robots. Last fall, Hitachi started
using robots to make hard disk drives, according to the WSJ
article. The robot replaces a human who used to screw a cover
over the drive's fan, saving a minute per disk in production
time. Another article in The New York Times last week describes
how robots in a Philips factory in the Netherlands are
assembling high-end electric shavers that are even more complex
than smartphones. "With these machines, we can make any consumer
device in the world," a Philips