Introduction
Unless you are in the robot manufacturing or servicing business, you probably don’t think much about the overall robot market. You have enough things to worry about within your business and industry.
Also, many industrial OEMs integrate and sell robots as part of their product line. This means anyone servicing industrial products will likely encounter plants and integrated manufacturing lines incorporating one or more robots. I aim to provide a useful high-level summary if you experience one or more robot applications.
Years ago, I consulted in Manufacturing Automation (MA) and learned much about robots. However, compared to today’s environment, what I did was basic. Now that servicing MA is a big business, I decided to examine the state of robot applications and related business models.
Definition of a Robot
As Wikipedia explains, “a robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of automatically carrying out a complex series of actions. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within.” Robots may be independent or semi-independent, with various applications ranging from industrial or medical settings to microscopic use cases.
In a slightly more complicated way, ISO 8373:2012 defines an industrial robot as “an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator, programmable in three or more axes, which can be either fixed or mobile for use in industrial automation application.”
The Most Popular Industrial Robot Applications
According to JABIL, a U.S.-based manufacturing services business, the most popular industrial robot applications include:
- Arc Welding: It has been around for over 40 years, and its main advantage is protecting employees from burns and hazardous fumes.
- Spot Welding: A quick and safe option.
- Materials Handling covers everything from pick-and-place to autonomous devices used in warehouses and shipping areas. These robots don’t call in sick, need a bio break, or have to wear masks.
- Machine Tending: Designed to load and unload machines, they are ideal for the “lights-out factory.”
- Painting: Whether a quick color and product change or consistent product coverage, these robots allow automobile factories to produce different models in one building and send them all to a single paint shop that adapts to an ever-changing product mix.
- Pick, Pack, and Palletize: A fast, accurate, and flexible option, these robots can remove reject parts from a conveyor and fill candy boxes with pieces fed from multiple lines.
- Assembly: By building products either alone, with other robots, or through a mix of robots and humans, they do the heavy lifting and can reach hard-to-reach places.
- Mechanical Finishing: These robots can handle anything from large parts coming off a multi-axis cutting machine to small parts requiring a precision fit and finish like a hip joint.
- Gluing and Other Chemical Attachments: These models offer high-speed, accurate placement of adhesives on difficult-to-reach parts.
- Other Applications: These robots handle other applications not covered above, including inspection, building security, and other applications that meet the “dirty, dangerous, dull, and demeaning” criteria.
Of course, other areas are newer than the established ones mentioned above — and they are fascinating. One of the most intriguing applications I have seen is a small system suspended on four arms with a camera above the gripper. The equipment was programmed to sort colored plastic disks into small containers at a rate of what appeared to be about three seconds per item. The robot reached for an item, the camera identified the color, and the gripper grabbed the disk and flipped it into the appropriate bin. I stood in front of it for a few minutes, amazed at how quick and accurate it was. And if it could sort disks, it can sort medicine or screws or any small parts.
Another industrial application uses drones to confirm inventory levels, like checking lumber in a warehouse or counting boxes in a high storage unit. In addition to preventing stockouts, it can do continuous cycle counts to ensure inventory accuracy.
An Overview of the Global Industrial Robot Market
According to the World Robotic 2020 Industrial Robots report, 2.7 million industrial robots operate in factories worldwide. The most significant number of installed robots in the three major industrial regions are:
- Asia – China has 783,000 total robots
- Europe – Germany has 221,500 total robots
- Americas – The United States has 293,200 total robots
This chart shows the worldwide growth of industrial robots:
This chart illustrates the total number of industrial robots operating worldwide:
And lastly, here are the top 15 markets worldwide for industrial robots:
What This Means for Your Business
If you are in the business of manufacturing industrial robots, CONGRATULATIONS. Although the field has many players, there is no reason why you should not prosper. Suppose you are thinking about purchasing your first robot or trying a robot for a new application. In that case, you have a large number of choices for a future robotics partner who understands the business and will minimize your risk.
One More (Fun) Thing
First, watch this short video. Then ask yourself, “If Boston Dynamics, which Hyundai recently acquired, can create robots that can do these things, what can they and other robot manufacturers do for my manufacturing business?”
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About Middlesex Consulting
Middlesex Consulting is an experienced team of professionals whose primary goal is to help capital equipment companies create more value for their clients and stakeholders. We continue to provide superior solutions to meet our clients’ needs by focusing on our strengths in Services, Manufacturing, Customer Experience, and Engineering. If you want to learn more about robot applications and how we can help your organization enter the world of advanced service contracts, please contact us or check out some of our free articles and white papers here.
Image credit: Image by PIRO4D from Pixabay