Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Industrial Robotics Market

Industrial robot are automated devices which can be programmed. These devices are used in performing repetitive tasks with human-like efficiency and accuracy. There’s no doubt these robots are currently used in a wide range of industries.

In recent years, the demand for the industrial robot has been increasing throughout various end-use industries. The industrial robot is being used in heavy engineering which is predicted to boost the growth of the market. Apart from this, the rise in productivity of high volume production lines is also contributing to the growth of the market.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Market

It’s been almost six months, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way of living, locking the whole world inside four walls. The pandemic has grabbed the throat of the global economy, compelling the giant industries to gasp for breath.

Because of the pandemic, the supply chain was disrupted and the manufacturing processes across industries. As a result, the functioning of industries has been shut down which impacted the market of industrial robotics in a negative way. The industrial robots are mostly used in automatically programmed manufacturing units which are.

Huawei, CISCO and Microsoft are focusing more on developing partnership with various IOT companies to develop various robots to continue their production work at the earliest.

Robotic experts at the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue and Texas A&M University have analyzed almost 120 press and social media reports from the U.S., and 20 other countries about the usage of robots during the pandemic. The research found that the aerial and ground robots are playing significant roles in almost every aspects of handling the crisis.

In Healthcare:

During the pandemic, robotics has been used in the healthcare industry extensively. In hospitals and clinics, doctors, nurses, medical staff, and family members are getting involved in real-time interaction with the patients from a safe distance with the help of robots.

Many hospitals are using specific robots to disinfect rooms, deliver prescriptions or meals, and handle other tasks related to the patients in observation or under treatment. Transportation of infectious samples to laboratories for testing are done with the help of delivery robots.

Moreover, these robots are being used even outside the hospitals. Public works and public safety departments of the hospitals are taking the advantage of robots or automated drones to spray decontaminators throughout public spaces. Besides, in countries like India, drones were used to get thermal imagery which helps in identifying infected citizens and impose self-isolations and social distancing norms. Robots were even detected travelling through areas filled with crowd, and broadcasting public service messages about the spread of the virus and rules of social distancing.

Other Industries

Robots are also proved to be a great assistance in work-from-home culture in different industries. For instance, during the pandemic, realtors are showing assets from the security of their own homes by teleoperating robots.

In developed countries robots are being used in various interesting purposes. Students were seen using robots to walk the stage for graduation in Japan, while in Cyprus, a dog-lover citizen took the help of a drone to walk his dog during the lockdown restrictions.

Post-Covid Estimations

The catastrophic outbreak of COVID-19 has paved the way for the robotics industry. It has been expected that the adoption of automated robots will be increased in the upcoming times because of their efficiency and accuracy. According to a recent report by Research Dive, the industrial robotics market is going to garner around $85.2 million by 2026.

As per Robotics industries association’s report, more than 250000 industrial robots had been installed only in U.S in the last few months. Moreover, industry 4.0 a new industry revolution in the industrial robotics market has increased the demand for industrial robots which works on AI and ML processes. It has been predicted that the market is going to recover by Q2/Q3 2022. Increasing demand across the product manufacturer to adopt the industrial robot is predicted to drive the market in the forecast period. In addition, implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning in these robots is predicted to create more opportunity for the investors to invest in the industrial robots.

About the Author(s)

Princy A. J

Princy holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the prestigious Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. University at Chennai, India. After a successful academic record, she pursued her passion for writing. A thorough professional and enthusiastic writer, she enjoys writing on various categories and advancements in the global industries. She plays an instrumental role in writing about current updates, news, blogs, and trends.