Taiwan is poised to become a key developer of consumer robots that perform household chores thanks to its expertise in producing technology products and computer chips, experts said earlier this week.
"We are currently looking at establishing partnerships in Taiwan to produce home appliances," Philippe Millieret, a spokesman for French technology developer Wany Robotics said in a telephone interview last weekend. "Taiwan has the technological know-how in personal computers and peripheral products that has applications in robotics."
Taiwan is also a stepping stone to Asia's largest market.
"Taiwan is the main point of access to China," Millieret said. "One specific thing about Asia is its hunger for technology. Asia is more advanced in this respect than countries in Europe and North America."
One product many and potential Taiwanese partners could work on is a robotic camera that can roam freely round the home looking for naughty children that are not doing their homework, Millieret explained.
Using infrared sensors the camera avoids obstacles, and artificial intelligence software allows it to locate and recognize specific individuals. If the kids are playing hooky, the camera sends a message to the parent or guardian via e-mail, short messaging service (SMS) to a mobile phone, or a pre-recorded audio message. Mom or pop can then call home and tell the kids to hit the books.
The robotic smart camera could also be used for home security.
Homes could soon be populated by other bionic maids. Wany is launching a smart vacuum cleaner that also recharges itself when its batteries are low at the beginning of next year, and chip designer VIA Technologies Inc (
"Robots are becoming very useful in many applications, not just defense and disaster recovery," VIA's chief executive officer and president Chen Wen-chi (陳文琦) said at the VIA Technology Forum in Taipei on Wednesday. "In the future if you want coffee, you ask your robot instead of asking your spouse who might resent your demand. The good thing about a robot is that it never complains."
VIA designs chips that use very little power and do not get hot when performing complicated artificial intelligence calculations, VIA's robotics spokesman Timothy Brown said in an interview last week.
The robotic vacuum cleaner is already on the market. For US$250 you can buy the Roomba from iRobot, a spin-off company of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence Lab and part-owned by Acer Inc. Since its launch last year, 200,000 Roomba's have been snapped up, CEO and founder Colin Angle said yesterday.
"The exciting thing about the Roomba is that the technology is very acceptable to everyone," Angle said. "If you care about a clean home, you're a potential customer for the Roomba."
But to reach the US$250 price tag, Taiwan lost the Roomba to manufacturers in China -- even for the computer chips.
"Something iRobot is proud of is getting performance at a low price using Chinese microprocessors and manufacturing," Angle said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary