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I am not sure Asimov would be too thrilled that his name iRobot has first been appropriated for a company that builds war robots. We have been looking for trends to drive the next Long Wave Growth Period. Bio-med is one clear area of development that can change the world and improve the quality of life. Robots are another. Companies like Nike move from country to country trying to find the cheapest labor rates. Nothing works cheaper than a machine.
One of the keys to England's early industrial success was the advantage of coal and rich iron ore being located in the same area. Add a little labor and you are exporting iron and steel |
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Today labor is the biggest cost factor in manufacturing, although transportation is creeping up there. Remove the cost of labor and the need for high tech labor to keep things running and geography changes. Those countries with high labor rates that suffer under the manufacturing paradigm are just the countries that benefit from robotization. We have been looking for an area where Japan would have a strategic advantage over the low labor cost markets of NAFTA and China. Robots could be an area where Japanese industry excels.
Another Long Wave parallel is the technology transfer area. Technology from WW II drove the industrial and electronics boom of the 1950-60s. Here again the needs of war are driving the robot from an interesting lab rat into a practical mobile device.
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