5 Major Robotics Trends To Watch For in 2019

5 Major Robotics
Trends To Watch
For in 2019

© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
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IntroductionIntroduction
Robots have revolutionized the manufacturing and industrial world in recent decades, and
are starting to make their move into the wider world of business as well as our homes, too.
While robotic workers are now commonplace in sectors such as automobile and electronics
manufacturing, 2019 should see increasingly widespread adoption across food production,
retail, healthcare, and distribution operations.
So here's my rundown of some of the top predictions of where automation and robotics are
set to make waves in 2019.
5 Major Robotics Trends
To Watch For in 2019

Besides robotic vacuum cleaners, the idea of home assistance robots has been slow to
take off so far. Could that change in 2019? Indeed a whole breed of startups and
established companies are betting that it will. From robotic companions for the elderly to
robots designed to feed, play with and care for pets while their owners are out, the
apparent applications are plentiful.
The breakthrough will come when companies have gathered and analysed real-world data
on what people do, and don’t, want from robots. Robotic vacuum cleaners took off
because they filled a real need, and were able to affordably carry out the duty they were
designed for. Other robotic assistants – such as mobile virtual assistants – have not been
so warmly received.
Robots Becoming Increasingly
Commonplace In Our Homes

Promising projects which will hopefully leave the starting blocks this year include Nvidia’s
collaboration with Ikea, which aims to develop the first commercially successful robotic
kitchen assistant. Could 2019 be the year that tech companies finally get the recipe for
domestic robots right?
Robots Becoming Increasingly
Commonplace In Our Homes

Robotic delivery devices are hotly tipped to solve the “last mile” problem inherent to
delivery operations – the most expensive stage of the delivery process where many small,
individually packaged products must be precisely targeted to reach their final destinations
on time and intact.
Some of these robots are designed to work in large indoor environments – such as
Segway’s Loomo robot, which carries out the delivery of internal mail in workplace
settings such as office blocks and shop floors.
Others, such as Nuro, designed by a team of Google engineers, will take to the streets to
deliver fresh groceries as well as hot food, thanks to its separate heated and chilled cargo
bays.
Delivery Robots Become
A Reality

Nuro is already carrying out deliveries in parts of Phoenix, Arizona – a hotbed of robotic
activity thanks to its grid-like streets, which are also hosting the world’s first autonomous
taxis, thanks to another Google spin-off, Waymo.
Of course, there is also the delivery of parcels via airborne drone delivery – which Amazon
is working on, and JD.com has already put into practice for the past year.
Delivery Robots Become
A Reality

Collaborative robots – or cobots – are the friendly face of workplace automation – not
here to steal away our jobs, but to work alongside us, providing timely advice or simply
mechanical muscle at times we need it.
As robotic technology becomes more widespread and deployment costs fall, businesses
will realize that they can drive efficiency by deploying robots in environments which are
unsafe or inhospitable to humans. Amazon's warehouse robots are a good example – as
they bring items to human workers for packaging, only comparatively small areas of their
vast real estate portfolios need to be heated and made comfortable for the humans who
work alongside the machines.
More Of Us Will
Work Alongside Robots

Collaborative robots may also provide an avenue for companies to avoid the wrathful eye
of the regulators, as they look to impose punitive measures on businesses which replace
humans with automation. Politicians have already proposed “robot taxes” to cover these
eventualities – fostering harmonious working relationships between humans and machines
could be a trend which will set people’s minds at ease in 2019.
More Of Us Will
Work Alongside Robots

Robots made ideal platforms for edge computing – building sensors into the extremities
of automated systems, where machines meet the real-world environments they are built
to influence.
During 2019 we can expect to see advances in smart sensors – sensors with inbuilt artificial
intelligence – reducing the need for information to be sent to the cloud or centralized
servers for processing, before it can be acted on.
Robots on the Edge

Those leading the charge include Baidu – which has just unveiled China’s first open source
edge computing platform, OpenEdge, which will allow developers of robots to empower
their creations with AI, reducing CPU and bandwidth overheads used by cloud
infrastructure. This should enable smarter, more autonomous robots to begin to appear in
homes and industrial settings throughout 2019.
Robots on the Edge

Speaking of open source – 2019 should see a consolidation of the standardization needed
for AI enabled robots to achieve mass market penetration. Regulators will have a part to
play here, as frameworks are put in place to govern the ways that personal data can be
collected and used by autonomous machines, including self-driving cars but also
autonomous home and industrial assistants.
With the legal framework offering reassurance and trust, real innovation is likely to
emerge from the open source community itself – already a hotbed of robotic
development and activity. Amazon recently announced the launch of its AWS Robot
Maker platform, built on the open source Robotic Operating System (ROS) standards.
The Emergence of Open
Standards for Robotics

This lowering of the entry barrier towards involvement in the development and
deployment of robots should mean more organizations of all shapes and sizes stand to
benefit from the robot revolution over the coming 12 months.
The Emergence of Open
Standards for Robotics

© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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5 Major Robotics Trends To Watch For in 2019

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