Robotics market to expand at 12% a year through 2017

INDUSTRIAL robots will continue to experience rising demand, with growth between 2015 and 2017 expected by the International Federation of Robotics to average at 12% annually. Sales in Asia/Australia will likely average at 16% a year. Investment in robots will particularly increase in the automotive and electronics industries.

 

 

The assembly of small parts will lead the trend toward human-robot collaboration, which will allow humans and machines to work next to each other without the need for any protective equipment or barriers. This will lead to simpler and more user-friendly automation such as modular plug-and-produce components that people without extensive robotics experience can use to program and integrate a robot. 

 

ABB emphasizes "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) programming interface, which will allow visual apps and programming by teaching instead of coding to facilitate ease of programming for future learners and users. The company has developed a new generation of Integrated Force Control and Integrated Vision to make advanced technologies available to more end-users.

 

Technologies and tools such as advanced sensing and gripping allow robots to interact with the world around them, accomplish tasks, and develop more "human-like" abilities to find, identify, and manipulate objects. Combining powerful processing capability and tools such as control and advanced 2D and 3D vision systems will create a degree of robotic "independence" that will enable robots to make "decisions" when faced with everyday situations.  

 

In Singapore, industries must prepare for integrated automation, which will raise production but impact labor. The Southeast Asian city-state has been experiencing a slowdown in productivity over the last three years despite recent wage adjustments aimed at catching up with developed countries, raising the issue of productivity growth in the context of global competitiveness. 

 

Further automation will enable companies to boost productivity and quality with less resources and time. Robotics will also allow manufacturers to cut energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Depending on the requirements of the product to be manufactured, automation lines equipped with vision systems can operate without ambient factory lighting or air-conditioning for a 24/7 operation with significant energy savings. Companies with a well-established manufacturing base can also collaborate and determine solutions that reduce business costs. 

 

Robotic automation could also help address manpower issues arising in Southeast Asia, where a growing middle class and higher levels of education are yielding a new generation of youth looking for more engaging and meaningful jobs and shying away from dirty, dangerous, and dull tasks. In response to the need to revisit human resources, some SMEs in Southeast Asia have started shifting to robotic automation to retain talent or encourage next-generation to inherit the business

 

With Asian manufacturing as wide as one-off designs to large-volume production of a similar design, robots must be innovative and productive to meet desired return on investments. Manufacturers can leverage robots to achieve fast deployment and increased flexibility in switching between different products and processes to meet the demands of low volume but high mix products. In Asian countries with the competitive advantages of high volume and low production costs, manufacturers with strong customization capability to cater to customers’ different needs will stand out. Businesses, faced with the challenges of an uncertain economic outlook, lower oil prices, and increased market volatility, must rethink ways to add value to products and services. This will enable them to adapt to product cycles such as those in the electronics industry that are becoming shorter with new models and functions being introduced at a fast pace.