Foxconn have gone through their share of troubles over the years, with 17 employees having committed suicide over the past five years. Foxconn have recently announced they are building a $223 million "robot kingdom" in the Central Taiwan Science Park in the Taiwanese City of Taichung.

The research and development center and manufacturing hub is part of chairman Terry Gou's ambitious plan to build one million robots. Yes, build. One. Million. Robots. Last I heard Foxconn weren't called Skynet, so this is a pretty huge development. According to a September report by the International Federation of Robotics (FDR), the world is on track to reach 1.3 million operating industrial robots by 2014.

This means if Foxconn's parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., reaches their robotic dream goals, they would effectively double the number of industrial robots worldwide. An insane move, and something I think needs to be very carefully planned. Techland's article is quite the read, and I suggest moving those eyes over to it for a gander.