Which industrial robotics topics will prevail in the coming year and what opportunities and challenges will companies have to deal with? In an interview with our CSO Christian Fenk, he reveals his top 3 topics for 2024.
robominds: "Which 3 topics in industrial robotics do you think will be the most important in 2024 and why?"
New application fields
Christian: "First and foremost, the topic of new areas or new fields of application or new fields of activity for robotics, for example in the healthcare sector. Thanks to new developments, particularly in the field of AI, we can now solve tasks in this area that until recently were considered impossible to automate. I am convinced that this trend will continue and that by 2024 we will see a lot of applications solved that were previously considered unsolvable. In addition to healthcare, I also see a strong trend in logistics and in the area of flexible machine loading. Both fields in which "the same component/item" is always handled but never "the same component/item"."
More courage when dealing with AI
Christian: "Another trend that is sure to continue positively in 2024 is the fact that users are simply becoming more confident. The long-standing trend towards ease of use has now reached more than just the major industrial robot manufacturers. The consequence of this is that robotics is becoming accessible to a much wider audience. In my opinion, this is also the right step to counteract the shortage of skilled workers! The whole thing is supported by the new technologies, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, which not only make tried-and-tested applications much easier, faster and more robust, but also open up completely new fields."
More flexibility for the industry
Christian: "And thirdly, as a logical consequence of the first points mentioned, there is of course the topic of flexibility. Robots are getting smarter and smarter, programming and set-up are getting easier and easier and robots can be used much more flexibly. One of the driving forces behind this development is, of course, artificial intelligence. If you look around the market and talk to various experts, you will see that there are now a lot of different AI-driven tools that make it easier to use or work with robots. AI robotics is here to stay and I am convinced that every newly installed robot will be equipped with AI or an AI tool in the near future!"
