Robots were not spared Japan’s recession – their birth rate tumbled 29.4%, a record fall, to 56,374 last year, the Japan Industrial Robot Association said on Friday: according to Reuter, Japan’s robot population had been rising 10% to 20% a year since 1980, apart from 1986 when it dipped slightly in a recession caused by a steep yen rise; The job situation for robots is still tight this year as many manufacturers are holding back on capital spending, said Kiyohide Chojima of the Robot Association; by value, the production of industrial robots last year slumped 28.8% to $3,880m, from $5,450m in 1991.
