Skip to main content

Collaborative Robot Adoption is Driven by Manufacturers

The collaborative robot (cobot) industry is advancing globally as more companies seek to lower manufacturing costs and increase the speed of production. While the established industrial robot vendors have made some progress, the pure cobot developers are creating ergonomic systems.

Guided by early innovators and adopters, the collaborative robotics market will become mainstream over the next 10 years. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the yearly revenue for cobot arms will reach $11.8 billion by 2030 -- that's an increase from $711 million in 2019.

Collaborative Robot Market Development

Furthermore, the total value of the collaborative market is much greater, when accounting for software-related revenues and end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) accessories. Under this broader definition of the market, the cobot ecosystem is worth just over $1 billion in 2019 and will be worth $24 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 28.6 percent.

"The prospects for the collaborative robotics market remain strong, despite some very visible inhibitors," said Rian Whitton, senior analyst at ABI Research. "The hardware innovation is still trailing behind, and most of the value related to cobots does not come from collaboration."

According to the ABI assessment, the real benefits come through ease-of-use, re-programmability, the lower total cost compared to industrial systems, and re-deployability. In essence, the value is one of lowering barriers rather than building entirely new use-cases for robots.

Moreover, cobots still trail industrial systems in speed, performance, and payload, which will have to change if adoption growth is to continue at this accelerated rate.

Currently, the cobot market as a percentage of the industrial market is very small. In terms of revenue, all revenue from cobot arms is 5 percent of industrial robot hardware, but that will increase to 29 percent by 2030.

Through advances in sensors, machine vision, and motion control, industrial robots will increasingly take on the benefits of collaborative systems. The value prospect for software innovation is strong too, growing from $558 million in 2020 to $10.6 billion in 2030. Most of this value will be attributed to analytics, perception, motion control, and operations-related software.

With 59 percent of global cobot shipments in 2018, Universal Robots is the clear market leader. They have managed to achieve relevance for screw-driving applications in the auto industry, attracting the business of big car manufacturers and component suppliers like Lear and Continental, while also being employed by smaller companies for pick & place and machine tending applications.

Some companies, like manufacturer Jabil, are deploying collaborative robots en masse for their effectiveness as re-deployable and flexible assets in an increasingly fast-changing working environment.

Outlook for Cobot Applications Innovation

Manufacturing is requiring more flexibility through customization, last-minute orders, and the increasing relevance of high-volume, low-mix automation. To meet this challenge, the current roster of cobot solutions are not a complete panacea but are an important step in the direction of a leaner and more flexible workstation.

"Collaborative systems are not revolutionizing the industry so much as being the catalyst for a leaner and more flexible industrial robotic solution that opens the field up to small and medium manufacturers," Whitton concludes.

As the demands of customization and high-mix, low-volume manufacturing present managers with new challenges, ABI analysts believe that this technological development will be crucial in transitioning to a more adaptable solution.

Popular posts from this blog

How Savvy Pioneers Lead the Future of Work

Hybrid and fully remote work are inevitable in the Global Networked Economy where high-performance talent demands flexibility from employers. To enable these progressive work models, organizations are investing in a wide range of technologies to support more agile types of employment.  According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), leading organizations will spend nearly $1 billion on the Future of Work (FoW) in 2023 -- that's an increase of 18.8 percent over 2022. Future of Work Market Development "Work models continue to evolve, but 37 percent of decision-makers in a recent global survey note that Remote and Hybrid work models will be an embedded part of accepted work practices, supported by a continued shift to the cloud, increasingly instrumented and interconnected physical workplaces, and intelligent digital workspaces," said Holly Muscolino, group vice president at IDC . According to the IDC assessment, organizations must mak

Human Resource Transformation Enabled by IT

Many senior executives are taking a proactive approach to digital business transformation in order to achieve their strategic goals. Delivering revenue growth and profitability is now imperative for every function, including Human Resources (HR). The top 3 priority HR technologies this year are skills management, learning experience platforms, and internal talent marketplaces, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. "With a tumultuous global economy, HR technology leaders face a balancing act in 2023," said Sam Grinter, director at Gartner . "Leaders must anticipate greater levels of accountability and demand for measurable outcomes to justify new technology investments." HR Transformation Market Development Forty-four percent of HR leaders report driving better business outcomes is their number one strategic priority for HR technology transformation over the next three years. Growth in headcount and skills (26 percent) and cost optimization (17 p

Global EV Charging Revenue to Exceed $300B

During 2022, fuel prices increased very quickly, partly due to a number of macroeconomic reasons. In fact, the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic are still impacting fuel prices, with many oil refineries having reduced capacity due to a prior fall in demand. Those significant events and other trends have created a demand for a growing variety of Electric Vehicles (EVs). While EVs have existed for decades, they really became a viable option for more consumers during the past five years. However, although EVs are suitable for some buyer needs, their usability is constrained by the current availability of battery charging infrastructure. EV Charging Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, revenue from electric vehicle charging will exceed $300 billion globally by 2027 -- that's up from $66 billion in 2023. Regardless, the Juniper analysis found that fragmentation in battery charging networks is restricting further EV adoption in some