The President of ABB has identified the top 3 US robotic trends for 2023 and beyond.
John Bubnikovich, President of ABB US Robotics Division, forecasted numerous significant US robotics automation trends for 2023 and beyond. By 2027, the US robots market is projected to grow at a compound yearly growth rate of 5.62%, surpassing $9 billion in market value.
Despite the likelihood of a short-term slowdown in the US economy, many businesses are beginning to feel the consequences of the country’s labor crisis as they struggle to fulfill customer demand. This, along with the growing trend of reshoring and nearshoring of operations, brittle supply chains, rising material costs, and unpredictability in world politics, has led to an increase in the adoption of robotic automation by businesses in an effort to increase flexibility, strengthen resilience, and adopt more sustainable production methods.
Trend 1
Aging populations and an increasing reluctance to accept low-paying, monotonous, risky employment are having an impact on a variety of businesses and will continue to do so well into 2023. According to a recent prediction from the Congressional Budget Office, the US labor force is expected to grow by just 0.2% annually from 2024 to 2031. However, a Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute study predicts that by 2030, there will be more than 2.1 million open manufacturing jobs in the US. Economic growth will be hindered as a result, and companies will be pressured to come up with creative worker replacement plans.
In countries where companies want to re-shore or near-shore their operations to strengthen the stability of their supply chains in the face of global volatility, robot demand will be extremely high. ABB Robotics polled 1,610 businesses in 2022, and 62% of US companies said they would invest in robotic automation during the next three years. In the meantime, 70% of US businesses intended to near-shore or re-shore their operations.
Trend 2
Due to ongoing developments in artificial intelligence, autonomous grasping, and positioning enable robots to perform various tasks. In Riverside, California, a Burrtec Waste Industries material recovery facility features a significant demonstration of how this expanded use of AI in robotics helps with tasks like picking non-uniform items. Here, vision-enabled and AI-capable ABB delta robots scan waste stream components and choose a range of contaminants from the line that the robot has learned cannot be recycled.
Simultaneously, the increased simplicity of the software and controllers to program robots will further lessen adoption barriers by removing the need for specialized knowledge.
Trend 3
As more firms adopt robots, employees need to acquire new skills that will enable them to thrive in an automated environment. A collaborative, multigenerational approach encompassing everyone from SMEs and training organizations to schools, colleges, and universities will be required to accomplish this.
