Date: Apr 03, 2015 Source: Company Data (
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Perhaps we overlook them because these robots look nothing like the humanistic "anthrobots" depicted in novels, television and the movies: C3PO in Star Wars, the Jetsons' cartoon maid Rosie, or the household sidekick from the movie Robot and Frank.
Real robots are altogether different. The closest human approximation among today's commercial and industrial robots is the factory line's automated, programmable arm. These robots can collect and even process artificial intelligence, but they do not hold conversations with us or fetch our slippers.
Robots perform a variety of essential tasks that humans either prefer not to do, or that robots can do more safely and efficiently. These tasks range from industrial production operations performed thousands of times a day, to customized eye surgery correcting vision in minutes, or mundane household chores like vacuuming or lawn mowing. Robots are helping with search and rescue missions by locating and saving people in burning buildings, or who have been trapped by floodwaters. Despite the wide variety in today's robots though, all robots share one universal feature: they are designed to serve.
Consumer robots regulate the temperature in homes and offices, vacuum rugs and floors, water and mow lawns, clean everything from pool bottoms to skyscraper windows, and can even record still and moving images, often from difficult or remote angles.
Commercial and Industrial robots assemble, weld, paint, process, sort and package factory products. They monitor and harvest crops, husband animals in agricultural settings, refine and process pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, and clean oil or other hazardous materials from lakes and oceans.
Military robots locate, surveil and collect information about enemy forces, search and destroy mines and bombs, and target and deliver ordnance.
Robots also exist in every medium—below and above ground, on land, water and sky. Robots are used to clean clogged underground pipes, pick crops across the Earth's surface, monitor underwater oil rig operations, and collect and relay GPS guidance data from miles overhead. Robotic arms even serve on the International Space Station.
Demand for Robots is at an all-time high
In the past five years, worldwide demand among manufacturers for industrial robots has grown rapidly, especially in the automotive, healthcare, and electronics industries. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the estimated 179,000 industrial robots sold worldwide in 2013 was an all-time high, and represented a 12 percent increase over 2012. Sales in the Americas grew modestly (8 percent), with Asia/Australia booming (up 18 percent), and the much smaller African industrial base rising fast (up 87 percent).
A third of all industrial robots are used in the automotive sector alone. While we are just a few short years away from robot-operated cars, robots are already used to manufacture cars. Top-end model cars now come equipped with robotic technologies that provide self-parking, collision avoidance, and lane-control assistance.
In almost every commercial and industrial manufacturing sector, machine learning enables robots to improve productivity and efficiency. Increasingly, manufacturers rely upon robots to automate and streamline repetitive tasks with incredible precision and unprecedented speed. Most robots are designed with artificial intelligence systems and safety controls that allow humans to work alongside them. Following the lead of the dominant automotive and electronic sectors, chemical, rubber, and plastics manufacturers have also begun to realize the efficiency gains and safety benefits of robotics. Firms like Kiva and Harvest Automation have pioneered the robotic automation of our warehouses, stores, and gardens -- doing so with increasingly intelligent systems that perform repetitive tasks with a high degree of accuracy and reliability and can even learn over time.
As we grow more comfortable with robots and get used to being around them, the market for consumer robotics will expand in both aggregate sales and the types of functions robots perform in our homes and workplaces. Business Insider estimates a 17% average annual growth rate between 2014 and 2019 for consumer and office robots —a higher rate than that for manufacturing robots. BI pegs the 2019 market at approximately $1.5 billion dollars, and the rapid evolution of hobbyist segment drones into consumer use devices only promises to expand this market further.
The US is a pioneer but not the leader in robotics
In some ways the United States is a pioneer, but in other respects we lag behind. We are among the leaders in artificial intelligence, and have certainly infused a design ethos into our software developers that has made the entire field of robotics more accessible to average consumers. The global opportunity in robotics is overwhelming though, and the moment to capitalize on it is now.
It is tempting to believe the United States is situated at the center of the field of robotics, but other countries are rapidly adopting robotic systems to create manufacturing and operational efficiencies in their own commercial sectors.
By dint of its sheer size, China is the largest net purchaser of robotic technologies. Japan however leads the world in robots-per-worker with 295 robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers. Using this metric Singapore is second (169) and South Korea a close third (164). According to _Bloomberg Technology, the South Korean government hopes to become the world leader in this area by investing in and supporting the nation's robotic industry with 1.1 trillion won (=$1.05 billion US).
Robots and Manufacturing Capacity
Other nations will move the industry forward with or without us Americans. As the chart above shows, the United States presently ranks ninth in robot-per-worker, which sounds impressive except that America trails countries like Belgium, Finland and Sweden.
The hard truth is America risks forfeiting the opportunity for technical and commercial dominance because US industry leaders and government officials tend not to work in concert to shared goals. Our schools and colleges, for example, should be teaching ground and aerial robotics and associated artificial intelligence and electromechanical systems engineering as regular parts of their science curricula. Our kids should be hacking and coding robots, not just building gaming applications for mobile phones; and our politicians and public leaders should be as encouraging as venture capitalists in rewarding innovators with licenses and resources.
A technology that is benefiting society
While debates a few decades ago focused on the fear of robots taking over society in demonizing way, or on humans losing their jobs, the current hysteria against robots tends to involve privacy. Too often, politicians and the public conflate the roles robots sometimes play in military battlegrounds — which include saving lives, defusing bombs and providing surveillance over terrorist activities — with every day uses in society: helping us live better and more productive lives.
Just as DARPA research led to the creation of the Internet, DARPA research has also led to brilliant inventions in the fields of ground and aerial robotics. For example, drones created to save lives post-disasters now provide cheaper tools for bridge inspection, monitor farms for higher productivity, and deliver medicines to far-off places. They are not just a peace dividend of the cell phone wars. They are also a peace dividend of research done by to further autonomous robotics DARPA and other defense-related agencies.
Small drones for civilian use are the most recent example of robots that hold huge potential for public and private good. Like satellites, drones provide us with a tremendous amount of otherwise unattainable information that can be used to improve our lives, work, productivity and connectivity. Drone-collected data allow both public and private sector leaders to make faster decisions with greater confidence. Data and information lead to knowledge, which in turn leads to wiser decision making across many disciplines. Drone-collected data is helping in the areas of agriculture productivity, insurance, taxation, public safety, access to communications, disaster relief, and enhanced commerce.
Military drones still far outnumber civilian drones, but we are just starting to see entrepreneurial companies like CyPhy Works (disclosure: Lux Capital is an investor) utilize small drones for industrial and commercial purposes. According to the often-quoted Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) study, the commercial drone industry is projected to create 100,000 jobs and generate $82 billion in economic activity. Every year that drone integration is delayed, the United States loses more than $10 billion in potential economic impact, and we cede ground to other countries and economies.
The robotics revolution is underway. How quickly and how far it will progress in the United States is up to American businesses leaders, politicians and consumers.
