The article.. which turned out to be more of a slideshow with captions.. was another fine product of The New York Times Technology section. The premise of the article was to examine how robotic technology in Japan has become less useful in the recent months. Being that Japan is taking part in the "deepest recession in more than a generation", the exporting bohemeth has found that much of its robots have been idles or sent back to their manufacturers as a result of limited production in the manufacturing industry. Aside from robots with the primary function of work, other robots (used for entertainment or even as pets in some cases) have also been scrapped as their price tags seem rediculous in the current economic state.
This article is interesting to me because it helps to see how the current economic state of the United States has affected the entire globe. Giant robots that help to build Nissan automobiles in Japan are being returned, or put into the attic simply because the market for new cars in the United States is down from previous years. It's amazing to see how various countries and regions of the world are affected so greatly as a result of this growing gobal economy that we live in today.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/13/business/20090713-robots-ss_index.html
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