Producers are contemplating extra robots equivalent to ABB’s YuMi, in accordance with ABI Analysis. Credit score: ABB
Simply over half of worldwide producers, or 53%, are within the early phases of adopting new industrial robotic {hardware}, in accordance with the most recent “Industrial and Manufacturing Survey” by ABI Analysis. The worldwide expertise intelligence agency additionally discovered that 28% have already deployed robots inside their services.
The survey, performed between This autumn 2024 and Q1 of 2025 throughout the U.S., Germany, and Malaysia, discovered that producers imagine that industrial robots are key to manufacturing methods to enhance high quality ranges. Forty p.c of respondents listed the adoption of robotics as a precedence for bettering high quality, up from 34.1% within the earlier research.
Nineteen p.c of respondents stated they’ll take into account adopting industrial robots throughout the subsequent 5 years, whereas 33% will take into account the adoption of collaborative or cell robots throughout the identical time-frame.
“Adoption sentiment stays excessive throughout the assorted robotic kind elements, indicating that producers are conscious of some great benefits of automation and might establish sides of their worth chains the place ROI [return on investment] may be delivered,” stated George Chowdhury, robotics trade analyst at ABI Analysis.
“It’s essential to notice that these outcomes had been collected earlier than the latest financial uncertainty,” he noticed. “Feasibly, if this survey had been performed immediately, we’d see an uptick within the variety of responders evaluating proofs of idea or contemplating adoption within the subsequent 12 months, consistent with reshoring expectations.”
Producers need to compensate for abilities hole
Survey respondents ranged from manufacturing engineers to C-level executives, with most individuals holding positions as IT managers and above by way of seniority. The responses had been cut up equally between the three nations.
When queried, this group of producers claimed {that a} lack of awareness and inadequate time to implement new automation merchandise are the biggest obstacles to robotics adoption. A scarcity of the abilities wanted use new applied sciences additionally ranked excessive as a priority.
Worry of alternative by automated techniques was ranked low as a difficulty, stated ABI Analysis. Additional responses highlighted the significance of on boarding, ongoing help, synthetic intelligence, and open software programming interfaces (APIs) as key product options for resolution makers.
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Generative AI is seen favorably
The survey provided perception into the notion of generative AI for manufacturing purposes. Fifty p.c of respondents agreed that generative AI can be utilized to optimize instrument paths, indicating a misalignment with the capabilities of AI-augmented robots and their supposed capabilities.
Optimizing instrument paths is a key functionality of ABB‘s Robotic Studio, NVIDIA‘s Isaac portfolio, and the choices of offline programming software program distributors equivalent to Visible Elements, Siemens, Dassault Systèmes, and Cenit. In contrast, 63% of respondents acknowledged the worth of generative AI for predictive upkeep and 66% for optimizing manufacturing traces.
ABI stated these responses counsel that generative AI is taken into account an data expertise (IT) — used for planning and enhancing processes with information — fairly than an operational expertise (OT) for optimizing machine habits in actual time. Importantly, 62% of respondents agreed that generative AI can be utilized to plan, analyze, and optimize human-robot Interactions.
The survey discovered constructive attitudes amongst producers towards robotics and its capacity to proceed augmenting the trade. Nonetheless, the respondents had been much less conscious of the worth proposition of superior AI plus robotics, asserted ABI Analysis.
“There’s a giant disconnect right here between the perceived capabilities of AI-augmented robots and the brand new merchandise that innovators are bringing to market,” stated Chowdhury. “Repairing this notion, by educating the market of the capabilities of AI-augmented robots, should be the No. 1 precedence of authentic tools producers (OEMs) and techniques integrators in the event that they want to see better uptake of {hardware} and for the worth of latest robotics merchandise to be realized by the manufacturing market.”
These findings are from ABI Analysis’s Manufacturing Survey H2 2024 market report. This report is a part of the firm‘s Industrial, Collaborative & Business Robotics analysis service, which incorporates analysis, information, and ABI Insights.
