Look, No Hands

Brave new world at the factory

The scene was like an eerie science fiction movie. At midnight in Nagoya, Japan, the new plant of the Yamazaki Machinery Works was deserted. The cavernous, corrugated-metal building was shrouded in darkness. The only worker in the plant was a night watchman, who patrolled the factory with a flashlight. Nonetheless, the Yamazaki Machinery Works was running at full speed, rilling the night with screeches and clangs as eight-ton metal castings were milled and moved throughout the plant, untouched by human hands.

In actuality, neither Darth Vader nor Dr....

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