The robotics industry continues to expand at a rapid rate. The consensus among industry leaders and experts is that the robots of tomorrow will have capabilities that will exceed the robots of today by far.
Technological advances such as human-robot interaction, multi-robot coordination, and increased mobility are expected to turn the robotics industry on its head.
Some tasks, previously listed under impossible to automate, will probably see robot applications that can tackle them. That and more lays the foundation for the five trends expected to drive adoption of industrial robot arms come 2019 and beyond.
1. Cloud Robotics Will Move from The Hype Stage to The Reality Stage
For a couple of years now, cloud robotics has seen a lot of interest in terms of both increased research and increased funding. However, though the foundation has already been laid, industries are yet to embrace robots with their heads in the cloud fully.
Industry leaders agree that 2019 will be pivotal to cloud robotics. The advantages of adopting cloud robotic include increased storage and computational power, and robots that can communicate with each other and perform given operations seamlessly.
2. China is On Track to Become a Leader in Robotic Automation
According to the president of the Association for Advancing Automation, Jeff Burnstein, Europe, Asia, and America are on a race to determine who will take the reins regarding robotic automation. He says that “there is an intensifying global race for leadership in automation…”
China, in particular, has distinguished itself both as a seller and buyer of robots. Remember that at the beginning of 2018, the IFR estimated that China would have 1.8 million industrial robots come 2025.
Under the Made in China 2025 plan, this is beginning to look more and more like a reality. Once China achieves this, there will be no doubt that indeed they are a leader in robotic automation. 2019 is the year that according to experts, China will begin laying a solid foundation to make this possible.
3. New Markets for Industrial Robots Will Arise
Already, especially in the past three years or so, the world has new markets rapidly adopting industrial robot arms. However, 2019 is expected to see even more of this. Industries such as warehousing, food and beverage and logistics are expected to adopt robots en masse.
Four key reasons will make this possible. For starters—the falling prices of collaborative robots. Across the world, collaborative industrial robots keep reducing in price.
Second is the expanding capabilities of an industrial robot arm. The more the capabilities, the more applications the robots can handle. Which means, the robots will be attractive to varying and multiple industries.
Third is the fact that soon, robotic automation will cease being a luxury and become a necessity. In most countries right now, there are more jobs than workers. To get out of the quandary; companies will have to automate.
Finally, there is a changing perspective when it comes to robotic automation. Thanks to collaborative robots, people no longer think robots are out to take their jobs.
4. Research into Consumer Robots Will Go Up Another Notch
Consumer robots are yet to take shape fully. Just last year, in 2018, some robotics firms whose specialty was consumer robots closed down. That is not to say those in the robotics industry are abandoning the venture. No, if anything, interest has doubled.
One trend expected in 2019 is the undertaking of projects by both big companies and universities that will help reveal how robots can work in people’s everyday lives.
5. Safety Will Begin to Catch Up with All the Other Advancements
Despite all the ongoing advancements in the world of industrial robot arms, safety is yet to catch up. There is still a significant gap when it comes to the safety standards of these industrial robots.
With that in mind, and with more people becoming safety conscious with regards to both hardware and software; experts hope that 2019 will be the year that everyone takes safety seriously.
