It seems like Samsung has taken yet another step towards a machine-dominated world. The tech giant announced that it is currently in collaboration with South Korea to develop and build high-precision machines that would be able to replace the multitudes of human employees working in factories around the world, reported Metro UK.
The project is being funded by the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, which has granted $14.8 million for the development of the project. The project involves the creation of precision speed cutters, motors, controllers and sensor encoders.
If successful, Samsung can stop utilizing cheap labor from countries like China by 2018.
"Once affordable robots reach the market and are more widely used, it can lead to the creation of 'smart factories' and bring about far-reaching innovations to the manufacturing sector," said the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in a statement, according to the New York Daily News.
Samsung stands as the latest tech company to state its intentions to replace human labor with machines. Earlier this year, Foxconn Technology Group said it aims to use robots and other automated machines to complete 70 percent of its assembly line work in the future.
Factory workers in countries such as China have already been reported to be underpaid, and their work conditions have been alleged to be far from ideal. Samsung alone has received some flak due to its labor conditions in China after a string of employee suicides in 2010.
With robots replacing humans in the tech giant's factories, it seems like a dark day for the average human worker indeed.
