Universal Robots predicts five automation trends for 2023

Universal Robots, a Denmark cobot manufacturer, recently released its latest predictions for five automation trends in 2023. In recent years, China has vigorously promoted intelligent manufacturing, the automation market has developed rapidly, and the just-concluded "20th National Congress" has once again emphasized the construction of a modern industrial system and accelerated the construction of a manufacturing power and digital China. Universal Robots predicts that China's collaborative robot market will maintain a strong development momentum in 2023, and flexibility, high load, full scenario, and customer co-creation will become a rigid demand for industrial development.

Adam Sobieski, President of Universal Robots Greater China, said: "Universal Robots is confident in the huge potential of China's cobot market, which has always been a strategic location for Universal Robots. While continuously improving our own innovation capabilities, we will continue to gather the power of the ecosystem, vigorously develop the local partner network and UR+ ecosystem, actively listen to the front-line needs of local customers, and continue to empower the flexible production and automation upgrading of Chinese manufacturing enterprises. ”

Anders Beck, Vice President of Strategy & Innovation at Universal Robots, added: "As we move into 2023, companies must be agile in adapting to market demands in order to survive and thrive, and must be more active than ever in relying on innovation to break new ground. I am confident that the coming year will see a series of exciting innovations in the field of automation, especially in the Chinese market. ”

Trend 1 - Fundamentals: The cobot market will maintain strong momentum

According to ABI Research, the global cobot market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 32.5% between 2020 and 2030, and the market size is expected to grow to $8 billion by 2030. At the same time, China, as the world's largest manufacturing producer, has seen rapid growth in the installed capacity of collaborative robots with the help of a number of national policies such as the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Robot Industry".

Behind the huge demand for robots, it is not only the market's extreme demand for efficiency, but also the labor shortage problem faced by the global manufacturing industry, and China is no exception. The difficulty in recruiting workers is first reflected in the general job position, because the repetitive work with low wages lacks a sense of fulfillment and attraction for young people. In the third quarter of 2022, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released the ranking of the 100 occupations with the highest shortage of workers in the country, as many as 39 belong to manufacturing-related personnel. At the same time, the difficulty in recruiting workers is also reflected in the shortage of high-skilled talents. While automation replaces basic tasks, it also creates many new jobs, catalyzing the demand for highly skilled workers. In recent years, the ratio of China's high-skilled talents has remained above 2 for a long time, and a technical talent corresponds to at least two positions, which is evident from the degree of sought-after.

By using safe, flexible, and convenient cobots to replace tedious, dangerous, repetitive, and labor-intensive tasks, workers can focus on more valuable work, improving productivity and improving employee satisfaction and fulfillment. With the acceleration of digital transformation and high labor costs, Universal Robots expects the Chinese and global cobot market to continue to present a blue ocean and maintain strong momentum in 2023.

Trend 2 - High flexibility: Agile response to the ever-changing needs of flexible manufacturing

The recurrence of the epidemic has caused an impact on the global supply chain, which has once again amplified the importance of the resilience of the manufacturing supply chain. In a highly uncertain environment, global manufacturing enterprises urgently need to improve the flexibility of production and the lean degree of management through digitalization and automation to achieve agile production.

In addition to the global macro environment, the rapid changes in end-consumer demand in the digital era have also posed another pressure on the production of enterprises, forcing enterprises to "determine production according to demand" and respond to market demand with agility. The traditional human model cannot adapt to the fast pace of flexible production, and enterprises must upgrade the factory system in an all-round way. In the process of enterprises embracing automation, traditional industrial robots are limited in their application scenarios due to their lack of flexibility and difficulty in deployment. In order to better adapt to the requirements of flexible, fast, and safe deployment, more and more enterprises are turning to collaborative robots.

Universal Robots expects that in 2023, the industry will continue to place extremely high demands on automation to respond to the ever-changing needs of flexible manufacturing. Unlike traditional industrial robots, cobots are able to interact directly with employees in close proximity, matching existing work cells and workstations without the need for additional safety barriers or changes to existing plant layouts. The cobots are also easy to install and operate, with the flexibility to quickly redeploy and switch tasks across multiple production lines, and even non-programmed operators can be quickly set up and operated with a simple and intuitive interface with minimal training.

Trend 3 – New Heights: Cobot loads and arm lengths break new heights to meet more diverse needs

In the past, cobots were mainly used by customers to handle tasks that did not require high loads due to their flexibility and lightweight. However, in recent years, more and more companies are looking to use cobots in higher-load areas to replace tasks that have been performed by traditional industrial robots. Universal Robots' new UR20, which was launched earlier this year, is an example of how it responds to this trend. The UR20 will ship in 2023.

Although there is an urgent demand for 20KG payload robots in the global market, at the same time, they do not want to sacrifice other performance due to increased loads. To meet this need, Universal Robots' teams worked closely together and after three years of unremitting efforts, the robotic arm was completely reimagined, the largest design redesign of the joint that Universal Robots has ever made. In the end, the UR20 collaborative robot achieved a comprehensive breakthrough in load capacity, operation range and other aspects, while achieving a large load of 20KG and a working radius of 1750mm, the repeated positioning accuracy was as high as ±0.05mm, redefining the collaborative robot. Universal Robots expects that in 2023, cobots with higher payloads and longer arm lengths will be able to provide targeted solutions for enterprises in a richer range of scenarios.

Universal Robots predicts five automation trends for 2023

[Photo: UR20, a new product launched by Universal Robots earlier this year]

Trend 4 - All Scenarios: Ecology is King, One-stop Solution Enables Made in China

Although the rapid development of technology in recent years has brought about earth-shaking changes in all walks of life, it is a basic fact that no single technology company can be proficient in everything. The robotics industry is no exception, and the development of robot systems involves all aspects of hardware, software, applications, sensors, and interfaces. Universal Robots launched its UR+ solution in 2022 to deliver a flexible and consistent automation experience to end users. Universal Robots will continue to vigorously build the UR+ ecosystem and empower Made in China with a more comprehensive solution and full link.

Universal Robots' rich ecosystem includes more than 1,100 integrators, distributors and independent partners around the world, resulting in a wide range of components, systems and solutions that work seamlessly with every model of Universal Robots. In China, the UR+ ecosystem continues to grow, now offering more than 230 component products, nearly 20 application kits, and proven standard solutions for major collaborative applications such as welding, palletizing, machine care, locking, assembly, quality inspection, gluing, picking, handling, polishing, and more.

As UR+ offers easy-to-configure and easy-to-use standard solutions, a one-stop product service platform, and highly integrated, high-quality robot peripherals, end-users increasingly see UR+ as an important decision-making factor in supplier selection, and the UR+ ecosystem is becoming a new driver of business growth for Universal Robots China.

Universal Robots has a growing number of local UR+ partners in China, and the first partner in its ecosystem to provide turnkey solutions for the Chinese market is Topus Technologies. For example, Tuode's nCobot collaborative composite robot deeply integrates Universal Robots' collaborative robot arm with Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR), with the collaborative robot arm acting as the function of "hand" and AMR acting as the function of "leg", and combined with components such as grippers and cameras, the robot can easily shuttle between designated positions to perform rich instructions such as grabbing, palletizing, detection, and insertion, further enriching the application scenarios of robots.

Trend 5 – Customer Co-Creation: Customers will play a more proactive role in the product development process

Customers know their needs better than anyone. And as the market matures, today's customers are more than ever in a position to provide valuable feedback and suggestions for product development. Universal Robots expects that as we move into 2023, customers will be able to play a more proactive role in product development, and the "customer co-creation" format will further develop.

Universal Robots has always been constantly innovating and iterating based on real customer feedback, hoping that the product will accurately grasp customer needs. For example, in the field of welding, Universal Robots is keenly aware of the challenges of recruitment and employment difficulties for industry customers, so it continues to launch a wealth of automated welding solutions, so that collaborative robots can become the best "hand-to-hand" for welding technicians, so as to stabilize the quality of production tasks, give young people new skills, and reduce the huge workload of senior technicians, so as to indirectly improve the working environment, help workers achieve skill iteration, and make more talents willing to return to the manufacturing industry.

Some of Universal Robots' automated welding solutions are co-created with customers. For example, Universal Robots has developed the TruArc Weld 1000 collaborative welding workstation together with Trumpf (China) Co., Ltd., a global industrial machine tool, laser technology and electronics company. Equipped with the UR10e collaborative robot, the solution focuses on automating "high-mix, low-batch" welding tasks and transforming manufacturing companies' businesses. The solution was created in collaboration with TRUMPF China, which is also a UR customer and has deployed the TruArc Weld 1000 itself.

[Figure: TruArc Weld 1000 Collaborative Welding Workstation]

Over the past few years, China and the global market have witnessed a radical transformation of the manufacturing industry by automation. Looking to the future, Universal Robots predicts that cobots will play an even more important role than ever in the automation upgrade of enterprises. Collaborative robot companies should continue to deepen their efforts in terms of load, scenario requirements, ecological collaboration, and customer insight to provide more solid support for the development of the industry.

Universal Robots predicts five automation trends for 2023

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