Recently, the International Robotics Association IFR released five important trends of the robot industry in 2023, tracking and predicting the development of the robot industry.
1. Energy efficiency
With the rising energy costs, energy efficiency is the key to improve the competitiveness of enterprises. The adoption of robot technology helps to reduce the energy consumption of manufacturing industry in many ways. Compared with traditional assembly lines, it can save a lot of energy by reducing heat. At the same time, robots work at high speed, thus improving productivity and making manufacturing more time-saving and energy-saving.
For example, robot control can convert kinetic energy into electric energy and feed it back to the power grid. This technology significantly reduces the energy required to run the robot. Another feature is the intelligent power-saving mode, which can control the energy supply of the robot on demand throughout the working day. Even today, industrial facilities also need to monitor their energy consumption, Therefore, this connected power sensor is likely to become the industry standard for robot solutions.
2. Backflow
Elasticity has become an important driving force for the return of various industries. For example, automobile manufacturers have invested heavily in short supply lines to make the process closer to customers. These manufacturers use robot automation to produce powerful batteries in a cost-effective manner in large quantities to support their electric vehicle projects. These investments make the transportation of heavy batteries redundant, which is very important because more and more logistics companies refuse to transport batteries for safety reasons.
3. Robots become easier to use
Robot programming becomes easier, and non-experts are also easier to use. Software driven automation platform suppliers provide support for the company, allowing users to manage industrial robots without programming experience. Original equipment manufacturers and low-code or even non-code technology partners work together to enable users of all skill levels to program robots.
The combination of easy-to-use software and intuitive user experience has replaced extensive robot programming and opened up new opportunities for robot automation. Software startups are entering this market to provide professional solutions to meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. For example, traditional heavy industrial robots can be equipped with sensors and new software that allows cooperative setting and operation, which allows workers to easily adjust heavy machinery to complete different tasks.
The robot supplier has recognized this need and is easy to set up and install. For example, it uses pre-configured software to handle fixtures, sensors or controllers to support low-cost robot deployment. Such robots are usually sold through online stores, and program routines of various applications can be downloaded from the application store.
4. Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital automation
Driven by the progress of digital technology, robot suppliers and system integrators provide new applications and improve the speed and quality of existing applications. Interconnected robots are changing the manufacturing industry. Robots will increasingly operate as part of the interconnected digital ecosystem. Cloud computing, big data analysis or 5G mobile networks provide the technical basis for optimizing performance, and 5G standards will achieve full digital production, Make the cables in the workshop obsolete.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential in robotics, which can bring a series of benefits to the manufacturing industry. The main purpose of using AI in robotics is to better manage the variability and unpredictability in the external environment in real time or offline, which makes AI supporting machine learning play an increasingly important role in software products and benefit the running system, such as optimizing process Predictive maintenance or visual-based capture.
5. The Second Life of Industrial Robot
The service life of industrial robots can be up to 30 years, and new technology and equipment are an excellent opportunity for old robots to obtain "second life".