We are living henceforth in a global
world with its different complexities where industries are turning to
streamlined processes, technologies, machineries and tools. The stakes are real
when it comes to opportunities and challenges related to enhanced productivity,
efficiency, security and flexibility.
Regarding the Global Assembly-Line Robots, one
can observe that, the rapid
rate of industrialization in emerging economies such as India and China, as
well as the shift to advanced automated manufacturing in countries such as
Germany, bring up emerging powerful excitements in industrial robotization.
With Technavio, we can discover that:
- Vendors have started offering collaborative robots that can lift heavy payloads in assembly lines;
- These robots are increasingly equipped with integrated vision technology that automatically halts the robot's operation on physical contact with human operators, thus ensuring a safe working environment;
- Many research institutes, companies, and governments worldwide are focusing on research initiatives to develop advanced robotic technologies;
- Research projects are in progress to incorporate cloud technology into robotics; Cloud-based robots would facilitate automatic real-time transfer of data into cloud platforms;
- New concepts of collaborative robots are gaining ground, where these robots work hand-in-hand with human workers to speed up operations;
- The concepts of smart factories and robotic factories are gaining significance, with some companies opting for complete robotization in their factories;
- In 2015, China became the first nation to experiment with robotic factories,
The IoT
(Internet of Things) in this momentum shows that, the high penetration rate of smart devices and use
of wireless and cloud technologies will change the face and mode of operation
of robots in the near future; bringing inter alia up: flexibility, fact-based
decisions and convenience in operations.
Beyond concerns regarding possible data breaches and hacking, implementing
the IoT in factories transforms the factory into a connected entity.
Among the vendors in the global assembly-line robots market, we
have:
- ABB
- FANUC
- Kuka
- Yaskawa Electric
For those who are unfamiliar, Industrial
robots are segmented into different types based on their area of application.
Assembly line robots are used in both automotive and non-automotive
applications. In non-automotive applications, the electrical and electronics
and industrial machinery industries are the major end-users due to the
increased implementation of assembly lines in their manufacturing processes.