Market Challenges And Opportunities

Global Autonomous Mobile Robots Market– Drivers

Growing Adoption Across End Users

The use of autonomous mobile robots and mobile manipulators create a flexible and autonomous industrial automation that is needed to create Smart Factories, where exchange of information is made possible by the integration of the latest intelligent technologies into robotics, such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, or Big Data. This has driven the adoption of autonomous mobile robots in Industry 4.0 and Manufacturing. In the agriculture industry, autonomous vehicles such as self-driving tractors guide fertilizer application while maneuvering around and away from growing plants. They can also work regardless of light conditions, and the guidance equipment they use in field navigation provides accurate information even in dense fog, thick dust, and heavy winds. For instance, an autonomous tractor by CNH Technologies is equipped with GPS and sensor technologies that allow it to work unmanned at all times of the day. For instance, in May 2023, Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) industry leader Otto Motors took a major step forward in enhancing customer support and service delivery with the launch of the long-awaited Otto Certified Dealer program. With a strong commitment to providing quality service and support, the program was designed to meet the growing demand for automation solutions across North America. With a network of over 215 local offices and a workforce of over 2,000 skilled technicians, Otto Motors wanted to provide local support and responsiveness to its valued customers.

Rising E-commerce Industry to Work in Favor of Market Growth

The exponential development of the e-commerce industry has allowed warehouse and distribution center owners to focus on improving their operational workflows from manual to automated to assist in ensuring a better buying experience for its consumers. In February 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that spending on online platforms accounted for 16.0% of total retail sales in 2019. This will ultimately make it easier for large e-commerce companies to implement autonomous technology in their fulfillment centers. Moreover, Walmart, a giant global retailer of goods and services for example, will begin installing bot-manned automated warehouses to handle pickups and deliveries at dozens of stores in January 2021. This increases efficiency for customers, provides faster fulfillment, and improves availability.

Global Autonomous Mobile Robots Market– Restraints

High initial investment

An observed limiting factor is the huge investment required in the early stages to rebuild automated distribution warehouses and centers to achieve maximum productivity and efficiency. This indicates a difficult situation for SMEs to withhold funds due to low output and long delays in return on investment. High costs associated with procurement, integration, programming, accessories, etc. hinder the growth of the global market. In addition, vendors have to deploy robots in parallel with their current operations, sometimes creating inventory management and control issues.

Counterbalance – SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) can embrace automation with greater confidence, unlocking the productivity and efficiency benefits that automated distribution warehouses and centers offer. Over time, these measures contribute to the overall growth of the global market as more businesses recognize the potential of automation and invest in advanced solutions.

Communication and Connectivity Issues (Navigation and Perception)

AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots) are based on a distributed architecture where a communication network plays a significant role in fulfilling the requirements that permit the system to show properties such as dependability. A network must be used to interconnect the several modules of an AMR, which must be able to support the traffic requirements to carry on the data flows produced by the nodes. To function correctly, an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) must navigate safely through known and unknown environments while carrying out its assigned task. Mapping, localization, and navigation are classic problems for mobile robots. As robots become more autonomous, adaptable, and versatile in their applications, finding effective solutions to these challenges becomes crucial. Also, if the environment is very dusty or has a lot of steam, the AMR will not navigate properly, as its sensors will be disturbed. Too many narrow paths and turns in tunnels will also make it challenging to employ AMRs.

Counterbalance - While challenges such as communication, navigation, and environmental factors exist, the continuous development of innovative technologies and smart solutions demonstrates the commitment to making AMRs more dependable and adaptable. As research and advancements progress, these counterbalancing efforts will contribute to expanding the range of applications for AMRs and promoting their widespread adoption across diverse industries, ultimately unlocking their full potential in revolutionizing autonomous mobile robotic systems.

Global Autonomous Mobile Robots Market– Opportunity

Applications in Defense Industry

Autonomous mobile robots find wide applications in the defense industry, commonly in defense and security forces, where these systems are known as RSA or robotics and autonomous systems. The robots are finding their applications in air, land, and marine applications, operating in a hostile and unsafe environment. Major militaries of the world are growing toward the induction of AI-powered autonomous fighting robots. Due to this, many defense supplier companies are enhancing their product portfolio in the AMR segment as well. For instance, in January 2020, Boeing Co., an aircraft manufacturer signed an agreement with Tactical Robotics, a specialist in unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, where Tactical Robotics' Fancraft enclosed rotor technology is being used by the firms to design, produce, and market aircraft with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities.

AI and IoT integration

The future AMRs are expected to be equipped with AI camera images and IoT, which will make allow them to connect with other modules of the industry but majorly will help in the accuracy of the robot, helping it to easily maneuver in tight and busy shop floors of the industry. This will also enhance their automation capabilities, and AMRs will be able to work with other automated systems of the factory rather than just being used for ferrying goods between two terminals. AMR has also been finding applications in the agriculture sector, which are expected to rise significantly in the future. Agriculture robots or agribots are seen as one of the key trends that will deeply influence agriculture. Agribots are already permanent fixtures in many farms, but with constant evolution in technology, AI, IoT, and 5G will enhance the capabilities of these robots to a whole new level. Currently, many of the weed removers, fruit picker, and soil monitoring AMRs are already in prototype and experimenting forms. With enhanced capabilities, these products will be a piece of permanent farm machinery in the future with enhanced capabilities such as pest removal and pesticide treatment.

Global Autonomous Mobile Robots Market– Impact of COVID-19

Digitalization and automation are some of the crucial measures that are being implemented in strengthening manufacturing businesses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, many companies that successfully tested AMR solutions are returning for more and planning full-scale deployments of more robots to improve internal logistics and efficiency and enable their workers to focus on higher-value tasks. The pandemic has also propelled the development and growth of cleaning modules for autonomous mobile robots as they are deployed to disinfect offices, hospitals, and other public places to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. In December 2020, faced with an over-burdened workforce and strict quality standards, one of Canada's largest hospital networks decided to automate floor cleaning with mobile robots. Avidbots, a leading robotics company and Sodexo, a multinational food services and facilities management partnered to deploy Neo, an autonomous floor scrubbing robot, to support the cleaning staff at Ontario- based London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neo can adapt to its surrounding environment in real-time and can automatically update its route to avoid obstacles. Since the coronavirus outbreak, one of the popular uses of robotics has been deploying autonomous mobile systems to disinfect facilities, where ultraviolet disinfection (UVD) robots use UV light to kill harmful microorganisms. To maintain health and safety, various hospitals have deployed these autonomous mobile robots. Chinese hospitals have ordered more than 2,000 UVD robots from Blue Ocean Robotics as of April 2020.