The past year was a great one for the robotics industry, but the decade 2020s would even be better according to prediction by industry experts.
One prediction is that 2020 would be a year of team-ups and collaborations between robotics company. An example would be the possibility of a mobile robot company teaming up to create new robot applications in manufacturing.
Another prediction, connected to the first one, is the possibility of larger companies acquiring smaller companies. With mobile robot companies having proved that the technology is mature enough to make a difference, these large companies will likely find it easier to acquire the technology themselves and run things internally (such as what Amazon did with Kiva Systems, and somewhat similar to what Shopify did with 6 River Systems, although that is slightly different).
Next, the debacle between pitting cobots (collaborative robots) and traditional industrial robots against one another would fade away as the advancing decade calls for the collaboration of the robotics industry as a whole. We have already seen cobots get bigger and faster, as well as industrial robots that can slow down or stop near humans.
A cool possible trend is that self-driving cars will focus on controlled locations more in the United States. Although these locations are specifically situated scenarios like in campuses, parking lots, and retirement communities.
These are few but very promising predictions for how things are going to be for the robotics industry this year. Much is to be expected from the industry this new decade as new creators are shaking up the industry and bringing new ideas to the table and industry veterans are continuing to innovate and improve already existing robots. Truly, it’s going to be a tech-riffic year!