It Only Takes Sony 30 Seconds to Build a PS4

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Image: Sony

How long does it take to build a PS4? 30 Minutes? An hour? Nope, and nope.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, which has published an interesting story on Japan’s unassuming Kisarazu plant – otherwise known as the PlayStation factory – it takes only 30 seconds for Sony to put together its best-selling console.

Not surprisingly, the entire assembly is done through a sophisticated network of robots that have seen steady improvements since the plant’s humble beginnings in 1994, when it was initially tasked to produce the original PlayStation. Now, there are only four pairs of human hands involved in production: two to put motherboards on the line, and two to package the completed systems.

“One of the plant’s crowning achievements is the use of robots to attach wires, tape and other flexible parts to the consoles,” reported Nikkei. “Twenty-six out of 32 robots at the Kisarazu plant are dedicated to the task, deftly handling materials most robots would find too finicky.”

“For example, attaching the flexible flat cable — a tape-like electrical cord — requires one robot arm to hold up the cable and another to twist it. The cable then needs to be attached in a specific direction using just the right pressure, which may seem simple for a human but is an extremely complex maneuver for robot.”

“There’s probably no other site that can manipulate robots in this manner,” claims an engineer. Be sure to check out Nikkei’s article for some in-depth photos.

Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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