CHINA—Industrial automation is advancing to a new level in China, where specialized factories have begun using robots to participate in the manufacturing and assembly of other robots.
This development is part of the Asian giant's growing commitment to so-called "smart factories," facilities where robotic systems and artificial intelligence tools perform tasks that traditionally required significant human intervention.
In some plants, robots can handle processes such as component assembly, welding, parts inspection, and functional testing. This allows for increased production speed and sustained operations over extended periods with less direct human intervention.
This trend reflects one of the goals of the Chinese technology industry: to move toward increasingly automated production systems capable of manufacturing the machines needed to subsequently expand that same capacity.
However, the assertion that "humans are left out" should be taken with caution. Although certain tasks can be automated, factories still require people to design systems, oversee operations, perform maintenance, troubleshoot, and control processes that robots cannot execute autonomously.
This phenomenon raises a question that is gaining increasing importance: if machines can manufacture other machines, how far will industrial automation go, and what role will human workers play in the factories of the future?
