Predicting the future is a mug’s game, said Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – so we’re not going to try and do that, but rather distill the thoughts of some of the robotic industry’s best minds into bite sized chunks looking forward to the robotic trends in 2020 and what the sector may achieve over the next 12 months…
Increasing Regulation: particularly around the use of artificial intelligence? To what extent will this slow down the growth and spread of robotics…
5G: faster and more reliable networks are due to be implemented but coverage will take time to become widespread.
Drones: getting your supermarket delivery by drone may be a way off yet but there will be increased deployment, when regulation has been effectively rolled out.
New markets: Sewing and woodworking – as the dexterity of robotic arms increases, more intricate and delicate applications can be addressed
Workforce pressures: this is going to be a key driver for manufacturing and processing industries as labour shortages are likely to drive more automation…
Medical: huge potential for growth. Surgical developments will push on rapidly, and artificial intelligence-driven medical applications will grow…
Linkages: expect big developments in cross-platform collaboration potential…
Workflow solutions: where we may currently have a robot to pick and select items, and then another to palletise and stack… expect more connectivity…
Agriculture: a huge growth area for automation driven largely by the lack of workforce. Reliance on herbicide could be reduced and strawberries left to rot in the fields may be a thing of the past…
Mindset shift: from ‘robots will take our jobs’ to ‘robots can complement us by allowing humans to do more highly skilled highly paid jobs’
Retail: robots helping humans to become more efficient, and to spend more time on those tasks better suited to humans – such as interactions with customers…
We asked our MD, Liz Reid, to peer into her tea leaves: “I’m no mug, sorry! What I do know, though, is that our sector is developing so rapidly, that I’d safely predict that by the end of 2020, we’ll have products available for our customers that we can’t accurately predict now. However, I do know that the Answer to the Great Question posed by Douglas Adams is 42…” For more words of wisdom, and help in making your business future ready, give Liz a call here. And to read more about other’s predictions on robotic trends in 2020, go here, here, here and here.
