Not all robotics technologies are overtly traditional in the metal-human-like sense. Drones and collaborative robots are two types of robots that can assist with important tasks across a number of big markets, from agriculture to logistics, to allow for the smooth running of operations. IDTechEx's portfolio of Robotics & Autonomy Research Reports and Subscriptions is home to some of the latest research within the sector.
Agricultural monitoring and fertilization with drones
Drones are a robotic technology that can complete tasks from the sky, such as over agricultural fields where they can be used for crop spraying, seeding, and crop monitoring. IDTechEx's report, IDTechEx's report, "Drones Market 2026-2036: Technologies, Markets, and Opportunities", outlines these as three main application areas for drones within the agricultural sector.
The primary application for drones within the agricultural space is protecting crops with spraying and fertilization. However, working alongside AI systems in some capacities, agricultural drones can be used for diagnostics of crop growth and health, pest or disease detection, obtaining nitrogen and chlorophyll levels, detecting water stress, and even making yield predictions. The use of high-resolution RGB cameras and multispectral sensors is key for collecting such accurate data, while farmland mapping, which uses RGB cameras alongside LiDAR to collect spatial information such as field boundary delineation and elevation and terrain data, is also a fast-growing task for drones.
Fixed-wing drones and multirotor drones both have their own individual benefits for different agricultural tasks. Fixed-wing drones are ideal for their longer endurance and broader coverage, which will come in handy for mapping large areas and long-duration data collection. Multirotor drones, on the other hand, can be manoeuvred more easily while being better suited to hovering, which would best serve high-precision tasks over smaller areas, such as crop health monitoring and plant analysis.
Many different kinds of drones have been developed for various agricultural applications, including orchard-specific drones which require extremely precise obstacle avoidance, to drones that can perform well even without a GPS for greenhouse operations. However, a large majority of drones have still not been granted the green light to be able to be deployed as a result of strict industry standards.
Cobot assistance in workspaces
While drones largely work independently, collaborative robots (cobots) are one technology that are designed to assist humans in industrial sectors and work closely amongst operations on the ground.
What sets cobots apart from traditional industrial robots, is their intended design to be safe allowing for close proximity with humans, their smaller size and subsequent low footprint per unit, ease of programming, and high adaptability and flexibility. Their limited speed and reach are also factors which make them ideal for working closely with humans, to ensure maximum safety in potentially dangerous workplace environments where machinery is present.
IDTechEx's report, "Collaborative Robots 2025-2045: Technologies, Players, and Markets", identifies 6 different stages of human-robot interaction, with cobots existing towards the end of this spectrum in stages 4, 5, and 6. These stages are described in the report as sequential collaboration where operators and robots work together, simultaneous collaboration in a shared workspace with no guarding, and lastly, autonomous cobots responding to real-time movement. According to IDTechEx's research, cobots are able to offer many of the same advantages as regular industrial robots, such as the ability to move parts around, work autonomously for extended periods of time, and increase productivity and quality, while also being far easier to be programmed and fit into existing workspaces.
For more information on developments within the diverse robotics sector, visit IDTechEx's portfolio of Robotics & Autonomy Research Reports and Subscriptions for the latest research, players, and market forecasts.
