Upcoming Technologies in Collaborative Robots

Collaborative robots are a fragment of service robots used in material handling, manufacturing, and labs. Increasing demand in factories and particularly in the manufacturing sector, where humans and robots have already begun to work in harmony, is resulting in the growth of the collaborative robots market. The advent of collaborative robots has enabled a trustworthy working environment where humans can safely work alongside robots. Some key factors driving the market include government support for the development and deployment of robotics and rapid expansion in the manufacturing industry. The governments of several nations worldwide are taking initiatives to support and promote the development and adoption of robotics in their respective countries. Such initiatives and measures taken by governments are expected to propel the market growth for industrial robotics globally, thereby bolstering the demand for collaborative robots as well.

In 2022, Europe held the largest revenue share of the global collaborative robots market. In Europe, the robust automobile sector and the presence of major premium car manufacturers are anticipated to drive the collaborative robots market. Further, the growth of electric vehicle manufacturing is also anticipated to drive market growth.

The governments of several nations worldwide are taking initiatives to support and promote the development and adoption of robotics in their respective countries. For instance, the government of Singapore under its Industry Transformation Program announced several measures to facilitate innovation, automation and expansion of the companies and obtain financing. The Indian government has taken various measures to boost smart manufacturing in India, one of which is the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. A major government initiative to promote manufacturing in India, the PLI scheme was launched in 2020 and covered 14 sectors, including automotive, pharmaceuticals, textiles, food processing, and white goods. Further, the Chinese government has taken several measures for the deployment of industrial robotics in the country’s manufacturing sector. This includes ‘Made in China 2025’ plan for the development of high-tech industries. In addition to this, the government also announced a five-year ‘Robotics Industry Development Plan’ for the expansion of China’s industrial robotics sector. The government is offering considerable subsidies and tax breaks for industrial automation. Moreover, German government’s strategy ‘Industry 4.0’, includes development and deployment of industrial robots as a key driver. The government announced to offer non-refundable cash grants of around US$ 78 million each year to support research institutes, companies, and academics during 2016 – 2020 for human-technology interaction research. Currently, about 300 study programs related to automation and robotics have been made available by the government.

The South Korean government announced a US$ 2.7 million investment plan, ‘Second Basic Plan for Intelligent Robot Development, 2014 – 2018. After the end of the 2nd Basic Plan (2014-2018), it has formulated and carried out the 3rd Intelligent Robot Basic Plan (2019-2023). Such initiatives and measures taken by governments worldwide are expected to propel the market growth for industrial robotics globally thereby, bolstering the demand for collaborative robots as well.

The global manufacturing industry is rapidly expanding as more and newer regions are investing to adopt manufacturing plants in their localities. This expansion in the manufacturing industry is expected to embrace technological advancements in order to enhance the plant productivity, maintain edge with the customers and gain a competitive advantage.

The expansion in the manufacturing industry is further highly driven by the economic growth worldwide. Also, the industry is presently found to be in the middle of a technological renaissance, which is changing the outlook, systems and processes of the modern factory. This technological revolution in the factories has been encouraging the manufacturing industries to further invest into these emerging technologies in order to enhance their productivity and production cycle. Thus, the rapid expansion in the manufacturing industry is expected to drive the demand for collaborative robots globally.

The penetration of industrial automation is gaining pace in various industries other than automotive, such as logistics, food & beverages, electrical & electronics, and rubber & plastics among others. In the recent past, the non-automotive industries were very underpenetrated in comparison to the automotive industry. With the increasing functionality of equipment such as collaborative robots, it is anticipated that the non-automotive industries will further accelerate the adoption of collaborative robots. Apart from industries, the penetration is also increasing among countries. Developed markets including China, US and Japan have high penetration however, there is still a lot of opportunity available for the industrial market to grow further even in the developed markets. The prospective for further robot installations is remarkable in many of these countries, particularly in the automotive industry. This growth is attributed to the necessary modernization and transformation required in these markets. These statistics are promising for collaborative robots manufacturers as it signifies the huge scope for further increase in adoption. It is expected that the low penetration will propel considerable growth during the forecast period, as long as there is a considerable support from the government to the manufacturers

In the coming years as machine learning algorithms and other technologies such as neuromorphic chips improvise their capabilities to enable smarter robots, the collaborative robots in the near future would be able to perform the tasks that only humans can do at the moment, in fact in a better way. These robots will then be able to access a plethora of database and recognize machines, people and parts, further enabling them to derive critical insights and act upon them. This is anticipated to be a key trend for the collaborative robots over the coming years.

In addition, the players in this industry are significantly investing in the development of collaborative robots integrated with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Further, the Chinese government has been expanding its efforts to integrate artificial intelligence technologies into collaborative robots. The integration of artificial intelligence in these robots will further enhance the support to the human operators, which will be beneficial for countries with inadequate and expensive labor force.

The top five companies in the market Kuka AG, Yaskawa America Inc, Aubo (Beijing) Robotics Technology Co Ltd, Doosan Robotics Inc, Fanuc Corp,. The above listing of key players is derived by considering multiple factors such as overall revenue, current well-completion equipment and services portfolio, new product launches, market initiatives, investment in technology up-gradation, mergers & acquisitions, and other joint activities.

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