mobile robots

Mobile robots are everywhere, from warehouses to hospitals and even on the street. Their popularity is easy to understand; they’re cheaper, safer, easier to find, and more productive than actual workers. They’re easy to scale or combine with other machines. As mobile robots collect a lot of real-time data, companies can use mobile robots to start their IIoT journey.

‘We are at the beginning of a big explosion of robotics’, says Melonee Wise of Zebra Technologies in this report from Automatica in Munich. This week she received the  ‘Nobel Prize’ of robotics, the 2022 Engelberger Award for her contributions to robotics technology. The award is bestowed by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3).

Last year over 100,000 mobile robots were shipped globally in 2021, Ash Sharma, Managing Director of Interact Analysis in a recent report. This is the first time this milestone has been reached, he says. The current labor shortage, coupled with strong e-commerce growth, has accelerated manufacturing and logistics companies’ plans to automate. This has caused sales in mobile robots to spiral, with nearly 70% more vehicles shipped than the year before and a 36% increase in revenues, which rose to nearly $3bn.

With an investment of DKK 335 million from A.P. Møller Holding, Blue Ocean Robotics will roll out mobile robot solutions globally.

Network provider Verizon has acquired Austrian-based incubed IT, the creator of a software platform that provides autonomous navigation tools to administer, manage and optimize mixed fleets of robots in industrial settings. This acquisition will expand Verizon’s robotic capabilities to power robotic automation for enterprise customers, for a large part based on 5G.

The global smart robots market size is expected to reach $25 billion by 2026, rising at a market growth of 27.2% CAGR during the forecast period, according to Researchandmarkets in their report “Global Smart Robots Market By Component, By Mobility, By Operating Environment, By End User, By Region, Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2020 – 2026”.

Seegrid Corporation, provider of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for material handling, has doubled its revenue year-over-year for the second year in a row. Seegrid’s growth reflects increased demand from manufacturing, e-commerce, and logistics companies for automation solutions to address rising pressures on the supply chain, which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and ever-evolving consumer demands.

AutoGuide Mobile Robots, manufacturer of high-payload autonomous mobile robot (AMR) systems, announced the opening of a new European office. The office in Munich supports sales, service and support, as well as deployment and training, throughout greater Europe. Local staff will work closely with its European system integrators to meet increasing demand for AutoGuide’s innovative autonomous mobile robots.