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Re:American Chipmakers Had a Toxic Problem, Then They Outsou... by sevensor on Friday June 16, 2017 @08:31AM (#14568308)
Robots help. The "lights-out" fab has been an industry goal for thirty years at least. (Lights-out = no human operators. I.e. you could turn out the lights and nobody would mind.) We've moved a long way in that direction, but we're not going to remove humans in the forseeable future. The reason is something your question, like many discussions about automation, completely overlooks.

Robots break. All the time.

Robots need recovery when they break. They also need preventative maintenance. Even a fully automated fab has an army of technicians in there turning wrenches 24/7. In fact, the more automated the fab, the more people you need turning wrenches. So you can't have a factory that's a toxic swamp inside so long as it's clean on both ends, because there are people in there. You really don't want to ask them to wear SCBA gear all day long either. Nobody likes that. It's hot, it's uncomfortable, and it doesn't work well in tight spaces.

Re:American Chipmakers Had a Toxic Problem, Then They Outsou... by shuntress on Friday June 16, 2017 @11:11AM (#14569663)
I get the point of the phrase ("light-out fabrication") but I think it's important to note that robots smart/capable enough to replace humans would probably use visible light in a manner quite similar to the way it is used by humans.
Re:American Chipmakers Had a Toxic Problem, Then They Outsou... by ocschwar on Friday June 16, 2017 @09:47AM (#14568886)
And what's worse is those wrench-turning techs have a different mindset from the test-tube shuffling techs they replace. So when they come in, they're more likely to get exposed to something nasty.
Re:American Chipmakers Had a Toxic Problem, Then They Outsou... by ethbro on Friday June 16, 2017 @05:06PM (#14572646)
Also, if you're unhindered by things like preventing tumors by isolating chemicals from your squishy meat employees, imagine the kind of Superfund sites you'd get when these places were finally decommissioned.