Robotics had a big year in 2022 in terms of development, adoption, funding, and M&A activity. All signs point to rapid robotics growth over the next decade in 2023. Here are five robotics trends to watch in 2023.
1 – Robotics companies get more investment
Robotics innovations continue to be funded in various industries, including medical, manufacturing, logistics, hospitality, and automotive. There’s plenty of cash in the market for venture capital, private equity, and strategic investors to invest in disruptive robotics. Labor shortages and disrupted supply chains are also driving demand. The global industrial robots market is expected to hit $31.13 billion by 2028, up from $14.61 billion in 2020, according to Fortune Business Insights.
2 – Innovating in robotics requires intellectual property (IP)
The robotics industry relies heavily on patents, trade secrets, and other IP. IP protections encourage companies to invest in R&D and offer more tools for innovative companies to stay competitive. Furthermore, robotics investors think IP is a valuable asset since barriers to entry often translate into more market share. As a result, companies get more funding and get valued higher. IP protections are also driving industry partnerships, reducing the risk of sharing valuable technology and often allowing the parties to benefit from each other’s exclusive shields for background tech incorporated into joint ventures and collaborations. Robotics companies are building strong patent portfolios to differentiate themselves. Companies are also increasingly using design patents to protect the “look and feel” of robots and user interfaces in addition to the “how it works” protections provided by utility patents.
3 – Cobots and Assistive Robots Take Center Stage in the Workplace
In reality, full automation can be prohibitively expensive, and robots can’t do some tasks as well as humans at this point. Therefore, innovative companies are looking for ways to combine humans and robots.
Fulfillment centers are equipping warehouse workers with robotic exosuits to make them more mobile. By stabilizing joints and offloading lifting and carrying motions, these assistive devices help prevent injuries and improve worker endurance. By 2025, the exoskeleton wearable robot market is expected to reach $5.2 billion, up from $130 million in 2018.
Cobots (robots that work alongside humans) can also improve efficiency and safety by taking on boring, dangerous, or dirty jobs. Pick and place cobots, for instance, are easy to integrate into existing operations and take care of sorting and packaging. Additionally, cobots are leveraging advanced imaging and sensor systems to perform robust quality control inspections. Compared to 2017, cobot sales in North America will account for 34% of all robot sales by 2025, nearly doubling over the past 5 years.
4 – Robot interoperability progress
As robotics adoption spreads, interoperability between robots will be just as important as interoperability between cobots and humans. Few companies get all their robotic platforms from one developer, so they have trouble getting them to communicate and work together. This results in highly segmented operations, which limits efficiency gains. As in the computer and telecom industries, customer demand will drive the industry to set standards and use open architectures to facilitate interoperability.
5 – Enhanced efforts to prevent hacking and mitigate liability
Given the potential damage, disruption, and even bodily harm that hackers could do to robots, cybersecurity will remain a top concern for the robotics industry. Stuxnet malware overspinning Iran’s nuclear centrifuges in 2010 demonstrated such dangers, and companies are more wary of state-sanctioned cybersecurity threats now that geopolitical tensions dominate news headlines. There’s also the potential for similar attacks by terrorists, individuals, and even corporations. As these threats evolve, there are also questions of liability, which are driving an intense push by industry and government.