With demand for robots growing as companies in multiple sectors look for new ways to enhance their productivity and competitiveness post-pandemic, ABB has compiled a set of growth predictions, looking at key trends driving demand for robots in the coming year.
Based on customer conversations, market research and a global survey of 250 companies across multiple industries, the company has identified three key trends that will shape the demand for robots in 2022.
EV Revolution
With many countries restricting and phasing out the production of combustion engine vehicles over the next decade, the race towards electric cars has accelerated.
Manufacturers and their supply chains must tackle the complexity of diversifying into EVs alongside combustion-engine vehicles to meet varying regulatory frameworks governing EV adoption across the globe.
The speed and added flexibility needed will see new and established manufacturers move away from traditional linear manufacturing towards modular, flexible production.
Marc Segura, President, ABB-Robotic Division, said that EV is not about a change only in the powertrain but a larger transformation to a digitised car. This transition will also see the growing uptake of robots in combination with other technologies, including Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR’s).
“This will enable manufacturers to optimise the delivery of components across facilities and enable integrated scalable, modular production cells – methods traditionally associated with e-commerce and consumer goods, but now required in automotive to ensure the necessary flexibility to meet varying levels of demand,” he added.
Another major shift will see battery manufacturing brought closer to vehicle assembly to meet sustainability and regional requirements, which in most cases requires all-new facilities.
E-commerce Boom
Consumer behaviour and expectations drive companies to find new ways to satisfy demand, develop new channels through omnichannel retailing, and adapt their production lines and distribution processes to personalise both products and delivery.
Fulfilling these requirements has seen thousands of robots installed worldwide where they were not used just five years ago, and this rapid rate of automation will continue in 2022, driven by a combination of consumer trends and a growing shortage of labour.
“This trend will see the growth of lighter, smaller robotic applications, enabling the expansion of automation into new areas of warehousing and distribution operations. As Artificial Intelligence in robotics matures and learning robots become mainstream, expect to see these technologies deployed alongside AMR technologies, orchestrated and managed by intelligent software to provide enhanced flexibility, speed and efficiency,” the president added.
Demand For New Skills
Smaller, more affordable, and easy-to-use robots, such as ABB’s YuMi, GoFa and SWIFTI cobots, are helping to remove many of the barriers previously preventing companies from investing in robots. As a result, this accelerates robots in the general industry and small and medium-sized enterprises as companies seek new ways to automate different tasks.
“As we look beyond 2022, we see an ever-greater emphasis on connectivity and data acquisition as key enablers of future manufacturing. Data collected from intelligently automated processes will be analysed by producers to make more informed decisions. At the same time, more advanced and responsive simulation and programming software tools, such as those in ABB’s RobotStudio, will cover the entire life cycle of robotic applications – from commissioning to onstream productivity – using AR and VR tools to simplify automation for customers,” Segura said.
The enhanced ability of robots to work directly alongside humans, share tasks, and learn through AI makes it easier for companies to adopt intelligent automation in new environments, such as construction, healthcare laboratories, restaurants, and retail.
In a future with a high prevalence of robots in workplaces, engineers and staff will need to be retrained, and more robotic training will be demanded in schools, colleges and universities for the skills to programme, operate and maintain robots for an automated future.
Decade Of Change
The trends outlined for 2022 are the latest chapter in the ongoing transformation of robotic automation, which is rapidly accelerating and adopting robots across the industry.
“While automation has always been about productivity and quality – scaling up, doing more – the shifts we’re witnessing today (the greatest in a generation) mean that flexibility and simplicity are key to success,” Segura concluded.