Skip to main content

How Robotics-as-a-Service Expands the Applications

As more organizations in different industries consider emerging applications for robotics technology, new business models for vendors are also envisioned. Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) is an elastic concept. It refers to robotics systems providers that in addition to selling products, will now rent or lease their product to customers as a full-service solution.

Though the total market continues to grow, competitive pressure on robotics vendors to maintain profit margins means that they'll have to broaden growth opportunities beyond selling robots as products. Following a recent worldwide market study, ABI Research highlights the potential of RaaS in unlocking the next phase of robotics adoption.

Robotics Market Development

Overall, ABI Research estimates that the installed base for RaaS will grow from 4,442 units in 2016 to 1.3 million in 2026. The yearly revenue from RaaS providers is expected to increase from $217 million in 2016 to nearly $34 billion in 2026.

"This will make the yearly revenue of RaaS providers -- including all payments for services -- greater than the shipment revenues for industrial robots, which currently accounts for the lion's share of the robotics industry in terms of revenue," said Rian Whitton, research analyst at ABI Research.

The RaaS installed base over 10 years between 2016 and 2026 is characterized by a of 66 percent CAGR. This is particularly prevalent in the markets with the largest RaaS installed base -- namely logistics, manufacturing, and hospitality, over the 10-year forecast period.

The biggest benefit of RaaS is that end users can now shift their capital expenditure (CAPEX) to an operational expenditure (OPEX), allowing them to deploy solutions without large upfront costs. RaaS providers, in turn, benefit from a steady stream of income from service offerings.

The benefits of RaaS are undeniable for end-users and robotic systems providers alike, and ABI Research forecasts that it will become much more popular in a relatively short space of time.

However, to achieve new growth, providers must start to educate the market on the benefits of migrating to an OPEX model, instead of a CAPEX-driven model. Companies such as Aethon, Locus Robotics, Savioke, and Sarcos Robotics are offering a RaaS model for their enterprise clients.

This model creates a lower barrier to adoption as well as provides an opportunity for robotics suppliers to establish a long-term service relationship with their end users, with more flexibility, scalability, and upgradeability in mind.

Outlook for Robotic Technology Applications

Logistics is currently the biggest market sector, but there are plenty of potential across various verticals. According to the ABI assessment, RaaS is the next phase of market development, opening robotics up to new use cases. Therefore, manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare are not the only market sectors to benefit from RaaS offerings.

RaaS will bring robotics to new market sectors that have not previously had significant robotic systems adoption -- those vertical industry applications include agriculture, security & surveillance, retail, hospitality, oil & gas, and waste management.

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year

Global Digital Business and IT Consulting Outlook

Across the globe, CEOs and their leadership teams continue to seek information and guidance about planned Digital Transformation initiatives and the most effective enterprise organization change management practices. Worldwide IT and Business Services revenue will grow from $1.13 trillion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2023 -- that's a 5.7 percent year-over-year growth, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The mid-term to long-term outlook for the market has also increased -- the five-year CAGR is forecast at 5.2 percent, compared to the previous 4.9 percent. Digital Sevices & Consulting Market Development IDC has raised the growth projection despite a weak economic outlook, because of vendor performances across 2022, growth indicators from adjacent markets, increased government funding, and inflation impacts. The actual 2022 market growth was 6.7 percent (in constant currency), which was 87 basis points higher than forecast last year, alth