Image: Messe München International

Industry 4.0 – the fourth industrial revolution – was the main theme at the largest robot and automation fair in the world, Germany’s AUTOMATICA, which took place in Munich throughout the last week of June. But what exactly is Industry 4.0 and how do developers and manufacturers big and small believe it will revolutionise production?

The signs and banners were everywhere throughout the gigantic conference arena: “The heart of Industry 4.0”, “Welcome to the 4th industrial revolution” and “Hello Industry 4.0, we go digital!”, trumpeted by leading German robotics supplier, KUKA. SMErobotics, the European Robotics initiative for strengthening the competitiveness of SMEs in manufacturing was also showcasing results from their 4.5-year project.

Industry 4.0, the next phase in the digitisation of the manufacturing sector, is predicted to drive up manufacturing’s share of GDP in Europe by 20 percent over the next five years. Consultants McKinsey say it is “driven by four disruptions: the astonishing rise in data volumes, computational power and connectivity, especially new low-power wide-area networks; the emergence of analytics and business-intelligence capabilities; new forms of human-machine interaction such as touch interfaces and augmented-reality systems; and improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world, such as advanced robotics and 3D printing.”

The coming changes are set to result in a host of new opportunities, say Industry 4.0  enthusiasts such as KUKA, which enticed the public onto its exhibition space with the showstopping Paulii Brothers – a pair of LBR robots perfecting, jointly, the fine art of pouring a German wheat beer. But the company’s massive orange-hued demonstration area also featured a smaller exhibit, a screen showing every one of the dozens of networked KUKA robots at AUTOMATICA, with the possibility of pulling down data on rate of operation, speed and more.

“KUKA is not just about robots,” Wolfgang Meisen, the company’s Head of Communications, pointed out. “It’s also an application provider and systems provider, with full automation assistance. The robot is one of the key elements.

Industry 4.0 is about more flexible production, processes and interconnection – machines, systems, software and devices working together. The robot is the junction between the digitalisation of the software and the mechanics.”

Experts believe that within two years the first wave of factories using smart technology will be fully operational, with widespread adoption throughout the world in the next decade. So the big manufacturers were out in force at AUTOMATICA, gearing up for what they see as the a major push for their products.

With an appearance by German goalie Jens Lehmann on its stand, clamping and gripping systems manufacturer Schunk, was clearly hoping for an additional push. But when in comes to Industry 4.0, the company believes the goal is “connectivity.” General Manager, Tomas Berg demonstrated this by comparing parallel exhibits. On the left, a scissor equipped pneumatic gripper and, on the right, a sensor studded version with all the corresponding connectivity on offer, such as putting output data on screen to inspect rate and speed and to highlight any broken links in the production line.

The key attraction, said Mr Berg, is the ability to deliver more productivity through the flexibility of being easily able to change production lines. Thus removing the need for multiple lines of production.

Industry 5.0 already?

Flexibility is also at the core of the approach taken by leading collaborative robot (cobot) manufacturer Universal Robots. Not satisfied with the promise of Industry 4.0, it wants to take things further, according to Regional Sales Director Per Kloster Pollster:

“We see a big future when we can start analysing all that information and that will increase the development of products and optimisation of production. We are talking the fifth industrial revolution already. When that happens, the automation business will change a lot because the next big thing will be flexibility.”

Collaborative robots, he maintains, make it so much easier to quickly and simply push though the development of products and deliver that flexibility. Universal’s strategy continues to rest on the enabling power of collaborative robotics which, they stress, offer the lowest return on investment, with no need for extra software or safety glass; the robot is used with ultimate simplicity, as a tool.

Image: Messe München International

Some were disappointed that Universal, arguably the stars of Automatica two years ago, were not launching any new products. Their range still consists of the UR robot in three different sizes, with a focus on selling out of the box. Instead, the Danish company is expanding the service it offers customers and developers with the free-to-use Universal Robots Academy, an e-learning facility, as well as Universal Robots Plus. Mr. Pollster described this as a robotics version of the App store, opening up the company’s products to developers.

Universal’s success is indicative of a trend toward smaller and lighter robots for pick-and-place applications, small-part assembly, machine tending, material handling and logistics.

And where two years ago the Messe Munchen arena was packed with caged robots, their liberated successors were out in force in 2016, inspecting parts and lifting cars but also making coffee and pouring beer.

In fact, the biggest launch at the fair was by Italian manufacturer Comau, which was showcasing the world’s first high payload collaborative robot, capable of lifting 110 kilograms.

The success of the collaborative formula is demonstrated by figures from the German automotive industry, unveiled at AUTOMATICA: the number of robots rose by 17% between 2010 and 2015, while the number of employees increased by 13%. Evidence that man can co-exist very effectively with machine, providing employment for both.

The belief at AUTOMATICA is that the potential of collaborative robots is so huge that we’re now just scratching the surface. Key to enabling the delivery of real time contextual knowledge to the enterprise, they pave the way toward hybrid factories with humans, robots and cobots – the future of manufacturing and Industry 4.0.

Acceptability and standardisation

British startup the Shadow Robot Company is also gearing up for Industry 4.0. “As the flexibility of manufacturing processes increases, the need for more general purpose automation also increases,” said the company CEO Rich Walker. “At present, humans step in to provide this flexibility. But highly flexible grippers derived from dexterous hands will allow Industry 4.0 systems to handle far broader ranges of parts and components than more traditional fixed automation.”

But if people think robots will replace them, persuading them to accept robotic solutions is one of the challenges for Industry 4.0, believes Maxime Banon, Business Analyst with Spanish startup PAL Robotics.

Several of the company’s award winning robots were in attendance at AUTOMATICA, including TIAGo, a flexible, configurable robot to assist people in repetitive, dangerous or annoying tasks, including light industry.

But just as challenging to achieve as acceptability is standardisation, says KUKA’s Wolfgang Meison. “If we want interconnection, that means solving the challenge of connecting systems that may be programmed in different languages, with different software platforms and communication standards. We need interface solutions and that means a broad alliance to establish new standards for real-time communications. We’re still not there yet and it’s why Industry 4.0 can’t be solved by a single provider. We need a model that we can push forward together.”

Altogether, German manufacturers have pledged €40bn a year to help support new smart factory initiatives, and €200m of state funds has been earmarked for specific areas like human-to-machine interaction and cyber physical production systems within Industry 4.0.

With manufacturing contributing 22 percent to Germany economy, their interest in Industry 4.0 is understandable. But worldwide, the phrase is a relatively unfamiliar one. Six in 10 UK manufacturing managers have never even heard of Industry 4.0 according to a recent poll.

Mike Fair, Application Sales Manager at Rethink Robotics, says that in the US, more commonly used buzzwords include agile, efficient systems and the Industrial Internet of Things. The company was one of the first to market collaborative technology and their current model, Sawyer, is still the only widely available robot that makes use of an expressive interface. The robot has eyes which look to where it is working and which frown to indicate that parts can’t be found. In his presentation at AUTOMATICA’s Forum, the company’s  Director of Sales for Manufacturing Solutions, Chris Harbert, said that research had shown that this was significant for people. “It gave comfort,” he said. “Emotion is important.”

Nestled in among the believers in Industry 4.0, there is also a caveat, that a slogan such as Industry 4.0 is not enough. In the words of Comau CEO Mauro Fenzi: “It’s a good framework for the industry to use in automating factories, but now we need to fill the empty box with good ideas to benefit customers.”

A step change is needed before robotics reaches its full potential, says Andrew Graham Technical Director of British startup OC Robotics. He issued a warning call to anyone believing that Industry 4.0 would herald the turning point in the robotics and automation marketplace: “The huge market is the consumer one. Perception and cognition are particular challenges, together with the interpretation of all that data. We need to get to the point where we don’t need technologists to work with the robots; the point where my Mum can get more out of it.”

Additional videos and materials are available on the AUTOMATICA website.

Read the previous article in the series here.

The ten-part series on European Robotics will be published every two weeks on the SPARC website and Robohub. Funding for the series was provided by RockEU – a Coordination and Support Action funded under FP7 by the European Commission, Grant Agreement Number 611247.

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Credit: Lijin Aryananda

Automatica coverage; new sUAS rules; limiting cuteness in robot design; bots to become electronic persons?; European Robotics League launches, and more. Find out what’s happening in our robotics universe this week.

What knocked our socks off today @Automatica (Robotiq)

The Automatica trade show taking place in Munich this week is one of the largest robotics events in history. It brings industry experts, academics, manufacturers, customers, and others together to showcase new products and ideas and form new relationships.

Robotiq is there too, of course, and we’re providing live-blogging coverage of the event from start to finish.  Stay tuned to this blog for all the latest news from Automatica, including the launch of a brand-new collaborative robot with a whopping 60kg payload:

At 12:30m, the curtain was pulled back to reveal…

.. an impressively huge collaborative robot! The AURA robot has a massive 60kg payload capacity, by far the highest for any current collaborative robot.

In his presentation, Comau’s CEO Mauro Fenzi, talked about the future of Comau. The company is 40 years old, he said “and getting younger and younger.”

FAA announcement for sUAS met with industry excitement (Robohub)

Quadrocopter drone flying in the sky

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a set of highly anticipated rules governing the operation of small UAS (sUAS) for commercial purposes this week.

Scheduled to take effect in late August, the new rules generally follow the proposals contained in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that was issued by the FAA in February 2015. One of the most significant changes for industry is that commercial operations that fit within the framework of Part 107 will no longer require approval by exemption, which has typically taken months to secure. Undoubtedly, the new framework will mean increased efficiency for commercial operators who will also not be required to secure airworthiness certification for their sUAS.

One of the most significant changes for industry is that commercial operations that fit within the framework of Part 107 will no longer require approval by exemption, which has typically taken months to secure. Undoubtedly, the new framework will mean increased efficiency for commercial operators who will also not be required to secure airworthiness certification for their sUAS.

The fact that operators will no longer be required to hold a manned aircraft pilot’s license and can instead take a knowledge test to obtain a sUAS operator’s certificate is a significant win for the industry that will open up the skies to make more operators. Brendan Schulman, VP of Policy and Legal at DJI remarks:

“This is a global precedent. The most respected aviation authority in the world has concluded that drones may be operated safely for basic commercial operations without requiring airworthiness certification and without requiring pilots to pass a practical flight examination. This reflects how fundamentally safe and beneficial this technology is, and is a model that should be adopted worldwide.”

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) welcomed the news in a statement: “Today’s release of the final small UAS rule by the FAA is a critical milestone in the integration process and a long-awaited victory for American businesses and innovators. It establishes a clear regulatory framework and helps to reduce many barriers to civil and commercial operations, allowing anyone who follows the rules to fly in the national airspace.

“Today’s release of the final small UAS rule by the FAA is a critical milestone in the integration process, and a long-awaited victory for American businesses and innovators. It establishes a clear regulatory framework and helps to reduce many barriers to civil and commercial operations, allowing anyone who follows the rules to fly in the national airspace.

“Accelerating civil and commercial UAS operations will not only help businesses harness tremendous potential of UAS, it will also help unlock the economic impact and job creation potential of the technology. Once UAS are fully integrated into the national airspace and become more widely used, the industry will continue to grow as a job creator and generate significant economic impact.

This is massive news for the commercial drone sector.. and long overdue.

Too cute for their own good, robots get self-defense instincts (Wall Street Journal)

Designers working on bots for use in public spaces have to thread a fine line between creating robots that are non-threatening so that people are comfortable engaging with them, but not so cute that people don’t take them seriously. The team behind Knightscope‘s security robot “K5” took on that challenge, going through hundreds of design permutations to find the sweet spot for K5’s sensors.

They also found that making some modifications to the robot’s behavior improved the efficacy and quality of human-robot interaction.

“The K5’s designers, along with the shriek, programmed it to stop moving if cornered. Being boring, they found, is an antidote to cuteness.

At Palo Alto’s Stanford Shopping Center, a group of young adults chased the robot past a Starbucks and Jamba Juice. When they surrounded the K5, it stopped moving. They lost interest, wandering away toward a California Pizza Kitchen.”

The choice between robots and pizza is a tough one for anybody to make, especially a kid. Of course with Pepper appearing in pizza restaurants and development of pizza-making humanoid RoDyMan well underway, future generations of children will not be faced with such a difficult existential choice.

Europe’s robots to become ‘Electronic Persons’ under draft plan (Reuters)

A draft European Union plan could see robot workers being classed as “electronic persons” with all the legal rights that would entail, including social security payments.

The draft motion called on the European Commission to consider “that at least the most sophisticated autonomous robots could be established as having the status of electronic persons with specific rights and obligations”.

It also suggested the creation of a register for smart autonomous robots, which would link each one to funds established to cover its legal liabilities.

The reaction from some industry leaders has been less than enthusiastic.

Patrick Schwarzkopf, managing director of the VDMA’s robotic and automation department, said: “That we would create a legal framework with electronic persons – that’s something that could happen in 50 years but not in 10 years.”

“We think it would be very bureaucratic and would stunt the development of robotics,” he told reporters at the Automatica robotics trade fair robotics trade fair in Munich, while acknowledging that a legal framework for self-driving cars would be needed soon.

Schwarzkopf may well be correct about the timescales involved, but it’s great to see policymakers taking robotics seriously enough to raise and debate these issues.

European Robotics League to launch at RoboCup 2016 in Leipzig (SPARC)

Set to launch June 30th, the European Robotics League (ERL) will pit international teams against each other in three robotics categories: industrial, service and emergency robotics. Local matches and regional tournaments will take place around Europe over the course of the next year.

“The European Robotics League will spur innovation and entrepreneurship and both maintain and extend European leadership in robotics”, says Dr. Rainer Bischoff, Vice-President Industry of euRobotics aisbl and Head of Corporate Research at KUKA. “It is a unique opportunity to break down real-world challenges into a competition format, similar to the UEFA Champions League in football, which is exciting for robotics scientists, the robotics industry and the general public alike.”

The industrial robotics segment of the competition will focus on manipulation, handling, assembly, and transport of work pieces. The league will use “scaled-down factory environment and desktop-size robots” for mobile manipulation. Challenges for the teams will include “performing a variety of work steps at different locations on the shop floor and automating high-mix low-volume production using a limited number of, but flexible production equipment.”

And Finally…

Robots, swarming drones and ‘Iron Man’: Welcome to the new arms race (Washington Post)

Google Gets Practical about the Dangers of AI (MIT technology Review)

Kiwi workers don’t fear ‘robot redundancy’ (Otago Daily Times)

Watch Out Humans – Robots Have Mastered Motion Planning (Factor Tech)

Tend.ai trains your robot to operate dozens of 3D printers and laser cutters at a time (TechCrunch)

Artificially Intelligent Russian Robot Makes a Run for It … Again (LiveScience)

Source: IFR Statistical Department

Worldwide sales of industrial robots set a new record: 248,000 units sold in 2015, 12% more than 2014. 66,700 units sold in China of which 20,400 were made in China.

Asia is still the strongest growth market with 156,000 units for the region, a 16% increase over 2014, but that figure is much lower than the 27% projected. The rate of growth of China-made robots penetrating the market also didn’t grow at the projected rate but it did grow at a healthy 31% rate.

Source: IRF Statistical Department

At a press conference and CEO Roundtable held today at AUTOMATICA in Munich by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), where these figures were presented, the consensus rationale for not meeting the overall and China projections was:

1. that the robot-assisted electronics assembly market was nowhere near as strong as projected;
2. that key components still had to be imported at high cost thereby making China’s robot makers have higher costs and higher selling prices than planned;
3. and because China’s  auto industry was over-saturated with robots and needed time to integrate them into their systems before additional orders could be placed.

The IFR, in the remarks of their President, Joe Gemma, strongly believe that manufacturing jobs will change in the new era of digitalization and Industry 4.0. Workers will focus on jobs that require judgement, common sense, creativity, problem-solving and dexterity, and be freed from repetitive tasks. Further, mobile robots will optimize materials handling; collaborative robots will assist workers in a variety of tasks; and simplification of the use of robots will enable more companies to use robots.

For 2016, 2017 and 2018, the IFR is projecting an 18% CAGR (compounded annual growth rate).

At the IERA Awards ceremony held last night in Munich, the IFR/IEEE Invention and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation (IERA) award was given to ABB Robotics for their two-armed YuMi collaborative robot.

Source: The Robot Report

May and June offer two important trade shows and conferences for professional and personal service robotics: Innorobo, held in Paris May 24-26 and AUTOMATICA, held June 21-24 in Munich.

THE TWO EVENTS:

Innorobo, which began as a regional show in Lyon, France, has become a steady and growing conference and show focusing on service robotics, has 100 exhibitors, and has changed its venue to Paris to handle that growth. Although far smaller than AUTOMATICA, Innorobo is highly focused on service robotics, startups and disruptive technological innovations — on social robots, mobil robots, AI and distributed intelligence for robotics, remote presence, commercial drones, and collaborative robotics.

AUTOMATICA, is a massive trade fair for automation and mechatronics with a special focus on professional service robotics. 800 exhibitors, immense exhibition space, a 150-presentation symposium on robotics with speakers from both industry and science, covering service robotics, man-robot collaboration, machine vision, a Makeathon competition — everything related to robotics and automation.

PROFESSIONAL AND SERVICE ROBOTICS

Excerpted liberally from The Robolution: Are We Walking the Talk? by Catherine Simon, Innorobo founder, President and CEO.

Catherine Simon, Innorobo founder, President and CEO.

Professional service robotics involves B-to-B service robots (robots not assigned to manufacturing or production tasks, yet geared towards a professional market). The professional service robotics market was estimated at US$ 3.7 billion in 2014, a 3% increase compared to 2013.

Consequently the “Robolution” is anything but exponential! Nonetheless, over the past 5 years, many of the products in this range have moved from the prototype phase to market-ready solutions. Admittedly, some platforms have managed to break into the market, for example “outdoor” robots – autonomous vehicles, exploratory robots and agricultural robots account for 37% of the market in terms of value and grew 25% between 2013 and 2014. This growth has been boosted by drones, namely in defense applications, and reflects the relative success of cow milking robots. Logistics robots account for 17% of the service robotics market in terms of value, showing 21% growth between 2013 and 2014; still a long way from transforming all service activities. Yet, medical robotics (35% of the market in terms of value, with a 9% decrease in growth between 2013 and 2014) enables safer surgical procedures and faster, more effective rehabilitation. It is one potential solution to the challenge of an aging population, it offers the prospect of new practices to treat diseases that have until now been incurable, and it may potentially eliminate the world “disability” from our vocabulary. At the same time, the “Hospitality” market in general is eager for solutions to increase productivity and improve customer service.

Alongside this, robotics is making its first incursions in the distribution business with Pepper (by Aldebaran Robotics/ Softbank) as an ambassador at Nespresso stores in Japan, at a few Carrefour stores in France, at Oshbot in the US, at Lowe and Futurerobot stores in Korea, and at shopping malls and other public spaces.

Personal service robotics has had two killer apps: the robotic vacuum cleaner and the recreational drone. This segment of robotics is a US $2.2 billion market in the United States, up nearly 30% in terms of value between 2013 and 2014. Two major categories of personal robots alone account for more than 99% of the market: robots that handle household chores – vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers – and educational and recreational robots.

The year 2015 was highlighted by very high-profile fundraising for social robots  – namely for Jibo by MIT’s Cynthia Breazeal, which raised over US $60 million and the scaling up of the Aldebaran/SoftBank Pepper robot which involved a joint venture between SoftBank, Foxconn and Alibaba. These robots are generating huge amounts of hype as precursors of what the companion robot could be in terms of Man-Machine interface. Still, their functionality is limited. One of 2015’s hottest Christmas gifts, with nearly a million units shipping out, was the recreational drone. China is the uncontested leader on this market, namely with DJI, though here again France has its national champion with Parrot.

THE ROBOLUTION

Wikipedia described robotics as a “General Purpose Technology,” a GPT, which can effect an entire economy and has the potential to radically change society through its impact on pre-existing economic and social structures. The examples of GPTs given are the steam engine, electricity, the automobile and, of course, the internet.

It is clear that robotics technologies provide potential solutions to our major societal challenges. Precision agriculture is helping to save our planet, and robotics technologies applied to the energy, recycling and waste management sectors can transform the way we consume natural resources by optimizing our use and distributing it based on real needs. Medical and healthcare robotics can eliminate the word “disability” from our vocabulary and give new autonomy to our elderly citizens. The list goes on and on. In industry, do we really need to produce more at a lower cost or rather give humans back a sense of pride in their profession and know-how while making their work less physically demanding?

While technology is a means, it is not there to give us meaning. Robotics technologies are going to continue to advance with, if we believe Moore’s Law, an “inflection point” in the next 10 to 20 years, followed by rapid progress, and with the aim to improve the lives of all citizens while preserving our planet for sustainable humanity.

In a crowded back room at AUTOMATICA 2014 in Munich, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) sponsored a panel of prominent robot users explaining their needs to a panel of executives representing all the prominent robot manufacturers.

The panel was moderated by Ken Fouhy of VDI Nachrichten, a German newspaper and web portal for technology news in the EU. The two robot users were Stefan Baginski representing BMW and Dr. Chia Day from Foxconn; the robot executives were Manfred Gundel from KUKA, Olaf Kramm from Fanuc, Stefan Lampa from ABB, Manfred Stern from Yaskawa and Jiegao Wang, from Estun Robotics.

The dialogue was spirited, direct, and kept on point by the moderator. It was particularly informative on three topics:

• Foxconn’s Dr. Day explained his company’s “million robot deployment” in context.
• BMW’s Baginski described situations that could add significant numbers to BMW’s robot population.
• The newly formed Chinese Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA) had a booth at AUTOMATICA and an executive from a Chinese robot manufacturer was on the user/maker panel, confirming that China is now the largest buyer of robots and their government is stimulating an in-country robotics industry.

FOXCONN AND THE MILLION ROBOTS

Dr. Day, VP and GM of Foxconn’s Shenzhen facilities, described in careful detail where robots are needed in their factories, what tasks they need to do, what hurdles there are, and, to some extent, what they are doing in-house. Their most immediate need is in core tasks associated with electronics assembly such as machining, polishing, painting, laser welding, die casting, palletizing and inspections. Automated assembly will come later he said. He described the major difference between an auto company and a consumer product manufacturer: the length of time production “lines” stay in play; car company lines often last for 7 years while most electronic production lines change yearly or more often. Hence the need for flexibility in deployment, cost efficiency, and ease of programming and re-programming.

Dr Day said that Foxconn has grown to 1.2 million workers and the logistics, turnover and ancillary problems and activities involved with that massive workforce had prompted Foxconn’s Chairman Terry Gou to say that Foxconn would deploy 1 million robots to help reduce and control the numbers, manage the problems better while increasing quality, and eliminate the dull, dirty and dangerous tasks that contributed to labor problems in the past.

He suggested that the media was more interested in the few instances of labor troubles than in the amazing technologies, capabilities and components the company provided and offered; that the media often incorrectly reported non-stories. For example, the flurry of stories about Google and Foxconn having an “agreement to cooperate” was unknown to him. He read more about it in the press than he heard about it from within Foxconn.

When queried about the fact that Foxconn has a line of robots that it manufactures, he explained that Foxbots were for internal use only and for material handling, for tool and die making, and for integrating from more costly purchased systems. They decided to make Foxbots solely for economic reasons. He also said that right now Foxconn utilized about 50,000 “traditional” robots, had an additional 50,000 automation devices that might be called robots, and about 500,000 not-robotic but intelligent automation devices mostly of its own creation. “Surprisingly forthright comments from a very interesting proponent of automated manufacturing,” said moderator Ken Fouhy.

BMW MAY INCREASE THEIR ROBOT POPULATION IF…

BMW’s Stefan Baginski talked about BMW’s experimenting with collaborative robots, particularly the ones from Universal Robots, for assembly and other tasks not previously robotized but that are ergonomically challenging for their employees. Thus far the human-robot interaction at their Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, and resulting productivity enhancement, has been successful and, if it continues, Baginski can foresee increasing BMW’s present robot population of 7,500 by a third to 10,000 within the next 3 years.

All the robot makers talked of co-robots and the issues involved but few had actual products for sale such as the ones from Universal Robots, particularly at Universal’s low price point ($30,000).

One fascinating question was whether the makers used human-robot-interaction robotics in their own manufacturing process. They all use robots to make robots. ABB said that they used their 2-armed FRIDA robot internally but for experimental purposes only; Olaf Kramm from Fanuc said:

“We have three times more robots in our production than humans. That’s the difference – we are able to provide high-quality sophisticated robots beyond automotive and general industry for the same price level that the others do when they produce in China,”

CHINA, CRIA AND CHINA-MADE ROBOTS

China has become the largest buyer of robotics buying one in five robots sold in 2013, a total of 36,560, according to the IFR. Rising wages, government stimulus, and growing competition from other emerging economies have been the drivers and 60% of the demand has come from the auto industry. There’s lots of room for this growth to continue: China had just 23 robots for every 10,000 people employed in manufacturing compared with 396 in Korea, 332 in Japan and 273 in Germany. Their brochure showing members of CRIA (China Robot Industry Alliance) was a hot take-away from their booth at AUTOMATICA.

Wang Jiegao, from China’s Estun Robotics, said:

“Labour costs are rising [in China] so there are a large number of enterprises that need automation. The challenge is to do that for small and medium-sized enterprises . . . as they have limited money for investment.”

HUMAN-ROBOT COLLABORATION

Hence the reason why robot manufacturers all over the world are focused on making their newer robots easier to program, operate, maintain, and that they be able to collaborate with humans. This slide from the presentation describes it well: