2019 was a big year for the industrial automation industry. New robotic solutions were introduced with companies like Universal Robots and even e-commerce giants like Amazon showing us what is possible. The collaborative robot took center-stage as the push to have humans work side by side with robots finally got industry-wide backing.

Industrial Robots -Coming Up In 2020

2019 is done and dusted, but the robotic revolution continues. We’ve already seen some interesting entrants and innovations in the first quarter of 2020.  For those who attended CES 2020, you probably came across somecutting-edge robots such as Samsung’s Ballie Bot and some weird ones too. Amidst all the consumer-orientedrobots at CES, there were a few gems for the industrial robotics space as well.

Here are some of the things to look forward to in 2020 as far as industrial robots and collaborative robotics are concerned.

1.   More Collaboration as Cobots Come of Age

Collaborative robots have been gradually carving a niche in the SME and E-commerce warehousing space. Companies like Amazon havetaken to using fully collaborative and intelligent robotic solutions in theirprime warehouses. SMEs, especially those in small and medium-scale manufacturing and fabrication, hasfound a new lease of life through cheap and versatile collaborative robots.

Expect to see a lot of more collaborative robots as the year progresses. Innovative Robotic manufacturers like Universal robots are already working on new and groundbreaking Cobot solutions for 2020. There will be new end of arm tooling to take care of practically any task be it machining, fabrication, pick and place, labelling, printing and much more.

2.   The Year of The Blockchain And Swarm Robotics

Blockchain technology has always been associated with digital currency since its inception. However, blockchain aficionadoswouldn’t hesitateto tell you that it has so much more to offer for practically every industry. From bankers using blockchain solutions to facilitate payments to device manufacturers using it for IoT devices. Blockchain technology holds a lot of promise for the robotics industry as well.

There are new blockchain implementations for distributed robotics in the wild. The blockchain can be used to implement a coordinated, fully autonomous distributed robotics for the industrial space. The term “swarm robotics” has been used to refer to the use of blockchain, AI and robotics to create smart and adaptive robots that don’t require a central authority.

The use of Blockchain technology in robotics has many benefits that may include better security, energy savings, increased efficiency and better scalability. There has always been speculation about the use of blockchain to create fully independent manufacturing farms. Will we see this becoming a reality in 2020?

3.   More Dronesfor Commercial Deployments

Those in commercial delivery services have always toyed with the idea of using autonomous aerial vehicles, aka drones. Tight regulations with regard to the use of drone in urban areas and residential areas have kept these dreams in dreamland. Nevertheless, there are drone companies and other delivery companies innovating new drone delivery systems.

Experimentation has already been done with the use of delivery drones in some areas, including medicine delivery in the remote villages of Rwanda. Will we see more deliveries being done by drone in 2020? All signs point to the possibility of introducing centralized air traffic control systems for commercial drones.

We might see a surge in the use of drones in commercial environments or the end of the dream. 2020 might be the defining year for the commercial drone in urban areas.

4.   More AI, Machine Learning in Industrial Robotics

AI and machine learning have been touted as the drivers of industry 2.0. As MI algorithms get better, industrial robots might change dramatically in 2020 and beyond. MI powered robots will be able to make smart decisions thus increasing efficiency, energy savings and versatility. This is good news for the Cobot industry as well because smarter Cobots are better at helping human workers than dumb cobots.

2020 Robotics inSummary

The year 2020 will see more cobot implementations. The line between traditional and modern collaborative robots will be blurred as Cobots get bigger and smarter. The use of blockchain technology in industrial robotics might finally bring swarm robotics to life. 2020 might be a big year for the industrial robot.