Producers are contemplating extra robots similar to ABB’s YuMi, in accordance with ABI Analysis. Credit score: ABB
Simply over half of world producers, or 53%, are within the early phases of adopting new industrial robotic {hardware}, in accordance with the newest “Industrial and Manufacturing Survey” by ABI Analysis. The worldwide know-how intelligence agency additionally discovered that 28% have already deployed robots inside their amenities.
The survey, carried out between This fall 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 enhancing high quality, up from 34.1% within the earlier research.
Nineteen p.c of respondents mentioned they’ll take into account adopting industrial robots inside the subsequent 5 years, whereas 33% will take into account the adoption of collaborative or cell robots inside the identical time-frame.
“Adoption sentiment stays excessive throughout the varied robotic type elements, indicating that producers are conscious of the benefits of automation and may determine sides of their worth chains the place ROI (return on funding) may be delivered,” mentioned George Chowdhury, robotics business analyst at ABI Analysis.
“It’s vital to notice that these outcomes had been collected earlier than the current financial uncertainty,” he noticed. “Feasibly, if this survey had been carried out at the moment, 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 contributors holding positions as IT managers and above when it comes to seniority. The responses had been cut up equally between the three nations.
When queried, this group of producers claimed {that a} lack of understanding and inadequate time to implement new automation merchandise are the most important boundaries to robotics adoption. A scarcity of the abilities wanted use new applied sciences additionally ranked excessive as a priority.
Worry of alternative by automated programs was ranked low as a difficulty, mentioned ABI Analysis. Additional responses highlighted the significance of on boarding, ongoing assist, synthetic intelligence, and open software programming interfaces (APIs) as key product options for determination 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 device paths, indicating a misalignment with the capabilities of AI-augmented robots and their supposed capabilities.
Optimizing device paths is a key functionality of ABB‘s Robotic StudioNVIDIA‘s Isaac portfolioand the choices of offline programming software program distributors similar to Visible PartsSiemens, Dassault Methods, and Cenit. Against this, 63% of respondents acknowledged the worth of generative AI for predictive upkeep and 66% for optimizing manufacturing strains.
ABI mentioned these responses recommend that generative AI is taken into account an data know-how (IT) — used for planning and enhancing processes with information — relatively than an operational know-how (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 optimistic attitudes amongst producers towards robotics and its capability to proceed augmenting the business. Nonetheless, the respondents had been much less conscious of the worth proposition of superior AI plus robotics, asserted ABI Analysis.
“There’s a massive disconnect right here between the perceived capabilities of AI-augmented robots and the brand new merchandise that innovators are bringing to market,” mentioned Chowdhury. “Repairing this notion, by educating the market of the capabilities of AI-augmented robots, should be the No. 1 precedence of unique tools producers (OEMs) and programs integrators in the event that they want to see higher uptake of {hardware} and for the worth of recent 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 corporate‘s Industrial, Collaborative & Business Robotics analysis service, which incorporates analysis, information, and ABI Insights.
