Robotics

IDTechEx is hosting a free webinar on Thursday 28 June 2018 titled Electric Trucks and Delivery Vans.

Autonomous mobility, in the general public's eye, is now synonymous with cars. Whilst this might be the largest ultimate prize, it is by no means the only commercial manifestation of this technology. Indeed, as the IDTechEx Research report New Robotics and Drones 2018-2038: Technologies, Forecasts, Players demonstrates, numerous autonomous mobile robots are being commercialized in applications where there is (a) a clear commercial purpose and (b) a more structured and predictable environment.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 24 May titled Robots and drones: How everything is changing.

In this article, we will describe the upcoming transformation in the world of robotics. This analysis is drawn from our report New Robotics and Drones 2018-2038: Technologies, Forecasts, Players

The robotic industry is looking for the next big opportunity that could one day rival the automotive sector in size. It may have found its answer in the logistic and material handling sector. In this article we will focus on the use of mobile robots in automating the goods-to-person step in logistics and material handling.

Rare earths are vital to modern electronics and electrical engineering. They are relatively non-toxic and more effective compared to alternatives. See the IDTechEx report, "Toxicant Materials and Alternatives in Electronics and Electrical Engineering 2018-2028".

Agriculture is facing major long-term challenges. Some forecasts suggest that world population is set to grow by 2.3 billion by 2050. This, together with rising global income levels that typically increase food demand per capital, would require raising food production in 2050 by 70% compared to 2005 levels.

Traditional robotic arms are caged, operating in robot-only zones. This is changing with the emergence of collaborative robotic arms.

In this article, we will explore the basis of the industrial robotic arms growth supercycle and consider the short- and long-term future of sales. We will also discuss the impact of other trends such as the rise of collaborative robotic arms, the emergence of new players and applications for surgical arms, and the progress in other uses of robotic arms such as dairy farming.

In the past five years or so several major research groups have demonstrated that robots can learn to grasp novel varied objects with accuracy levels around 80-85%. Still performance levels, even in the labs, are sub-human but this is changing fast.