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With annual income within the U.S. robotics market anticipated to develop at 5.62% (CAGR), leading to a market quantity of over $9 billion by 2027, John Bubnikovich, ABB US Robotics Division President, is making a number of predictions on key tendencies in robotics automation within the US for 2023 and past.
”The impression of U.S. labor shortages is more and more being felt by many companies as they battle to maintain tempo with buyer calls for, even with the potential for some softening within the US financial system within the short-term,” mentioned Bubnikovich. “This, combined with global political uncertainty, fragile supply chains and rising material costs, in addition to the growing trend of reshoring and nearshoring of operations, means more companies are adopting robotic automation to maximize flexibility, build resilience and adapt more sustainable production processes.”
Trend 1 – Demand for robots will enhance in response to long-term labor shortages and a surge in re- and nearshoring
The impression of labor shortages is clearly felt throughout a variety of industries and can proceed properly past 2023 because the impact of growing older populations and a reluctance to tackle low-paid, uninteresting, soiled and harmful jobs will increase. The Congressional Budget Office just lately forecast that the dimensions of the U.S. labor power will develop by simply 0.2% yearly from 2024 to 2031, and by 2030, it’s predicted that greater than 2.1 million US manufacturing jobs will likely be unfilled, based on a examine by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute. This will hamper financial progress and current corporations with the necessity to discover new methods to plug gaps in workforces.
Demand for robots will likely be notably sturdy in nations the place corporations are planning to re- or near-shore their operations to assist enhance their provide chain stability within the face of world uncertainty. In a survey of 1,610 corporations carried out by ABB Robotics in 2022, 70% of US companies mentioned they’re planning to re- or near-shore their operations, with 62% indicating they’d be investing in robotic automation within the subsequent three years.
“While much of the mainstream attention has focused on the impact of automation taking jobs, robots will increasingly perform the physically stressful tasks that people are reluctant to perform, helping to moderate industrial and commercial labor shortages,” mentioned Bubnikovich. “The persevering with developments in ease of use and versatile efficiency of robots, together with the event of collaborative fashions with bigger payloads akin to ABB’s GoFa and SWIFTI cobots, imply corporations can tackle expertise gaps and make higher use of their current workforces.
“We will also see robots taking on tasks in new sectors such as food processing and healthcare. For example, ABB robots are in operation at a White Castle frozen hamburger plant in Louisville, Kentucky, where a completely automated packaging system features three different types of robots handling three different functions. And, at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Houston, Texas, ABB robots are revolutionizing antibody research by automating the testing process, increasing the number of tests done per day from 15 to 1000. We will see robots taking on more roles in similar settings going forward as labor shortages continue to impact many businesses,” mentioned Bubnikovich.
Trend 2 – AI and autonomous know-how will make robots simpler to make use of, combine and entry – opening up extra alternatives in new industries
The current growth of ABB’s Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (Visual SLAM) know-how will improve the productiveness, flexibility and velocity of ABB’s vary of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs). Using AI-enabled 3D imaginative and prescient to carry out location and mapping capabilities, Visual SLAM permits AMRs to make clever navigation selections based mostly on their environment. Solutions like these allow producers to maneuver away from conventional manufacturing traces in direction of built-in scalable, modular manufacturing cells whereas optimizing the supply of elements throughout amenities.
Ongoing developments in synthetic intelligence are powering autonomous greedy and positioning, which can develop the vary of duties robots can carry out. This larger use of AI in robotics helps with duties like selecting non-uniform objects, which is on outstanding show at a Burrtec Waste Industries materials restoration facility in Riverside, California. Here, vision- and AI-enabled ABB delta robots scan supplies on a waste stream conveyor, selecting quite a lot of contaminants from the road that the robotic has realized will not be in a position to be recycled.
At the identical time, continued simplification of the software program and controllers used to program robots will additional scale back limitations to adoption by eradicating the necessity for specialist experience.
“Over the past few years, the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence in the robotics realm have improved significantly,” mentioned Bubnikovich. “As the technology continues to mature and become less complex, enabling ease-of-use and multiple applications, robotics will penetrate segments beyond traditional manufacturing and distribution, such as electronics, healthcare, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals and food service.”
Trend 3 – More specialist partnerships between trade and educators will help a brand new period of automation
With extra corporations utilizing robots, there’s a rising want for staff to study new expertise that may allow them to thrive in an automatic surroundings. Achieving it will require a cooperative, multi-generational strategy, from faculties, schools, and universities by to SMEs and supporting associations to offer coaching.
“Businesses in the future will need employees with experience in applying automation to perform a variety of processes,” mentioned Bubnikovich. “As robots become more prevalent in factories, warehouses and other environments, there will be an increase in partnerships between robot OEMs, system integrators, manufacturers, and educators to provide people with the necessary skills for an automated future. There are already more than 150 examples of ABB partnerships with educators in the United States, where our robots, RobotStudio simulation and programming software, and Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality tools are used to teach students of all ages the skills needed to program and use robotic automation.”
The future
“Disruption and uncertainty are driving new business models, compelling companies to think differently about the way they operate. Scalable, flexible and capable of handling an expanding range of tasks, robots are becoming the new paradigm in making businesses more resilient in response to these external forces,” mentioned Bubnikovich.
“As this all unfolds, the successful implementation of robotic automation will require a layer of qualified human engagement to achieve the best possible outcomes. As new technologies continue to make robots easier to use and deploy, we see 2023 as a year of opportunity that will enable companies and their workforces to reach new levels of productivity, efficiency and flexibility.”
ABB’s funding to help the way forward for robotics
ABB is supporting the anticipated robotics progress within the United States by investing over $22 million and creating extremely expert jobs in manufacturing, innovation and distribution operations.
Robotics-specific funding initiatives underway throughout the US embody:
- Auburn Hills, Michigan: An enlargement of its North American robotics headquarters and manufacturing facility as extra prospects flip to automation to construct resilience whereas enhancing effectivity and suppleness as a part of the close to and reshoring of manufacturing. The $20 million funding will create 72 jobs and be accomplished by the tip of 2023.
- Atlanta, Georgia: Opening of a packaging and logistics facility for end-to-end robotic automation options in warehouse and distribution, retail, and logistics industries. This $2 million funding will open in 2023 and create roughly 15 jobs.
- Houston, Texas: continued funding into ABB Robotics’ healthcare & life sciences hub on the Texas Medical Center in Houston. The heart focuses on growing non-surgical medical Robotics programs which are used throughout the US and globally in collaboration with medical employees, scientists and engineers at a devoted facility on the Texas Medical Center’s innovation campus.