Where Robots Are Working Today
The single most recognized robot success is the Roomba. The Roomba is iconic in the robotics industry for finding a great balance of technology, delivering within consumer price constraints all with a simple usable design propelled its success.
All robotics products require this degree of care in product design and positioning to be successful. The Roomba is only one of a broader sea of robots working today in niche applications.
When looked at as 60 discrete robotics niches, no single application dominates aggregate unit sales:
Some of the categories that were too small to show include warehousing & logistics. Companies like Amazon have demonstrated the importance of logistics robotics. The fierce price competition in e-commerce was the fundamental pressure that prompted Amazon to embrace robotics in the face of an unprecedented logistics challenge:
Amazon starts to roll out free one-day delivery for Prime members…
In their wake are a multitude of retailers and e-commerce providers who may well be forced to carefully consider which tools work best for them to keep up with e-commerce trends.
For Walmart automation looks a bit different because of their retail focus. Their lineup of equipment includes solutions for in-store pickup, quickly unloading trucks, cleaning floors, and continuously taking inventory.
The use of a heterogeneous fleet of equipment at Walmart speaks to the breadth of niche opportunities available to RaaS solutions providers.
For retail, competition to deliver the best price to customers is leading the largest U.S. retailers toward an existential reliance on automation. If these early adopters in retail find success it will force other retailers to look for ways to keep up. Key to adoption are OEMs and RaaS companies developing the right tools for the application.
Robotics Innovation
Robotics is an exciting field with many emerging opportunities. With recent developments, Shopify acquiring 6 River Systems, its clear ROS is key to the success of robotics deployments.
