28 n ROBOTS June 2023 www.drivesncontrols.com Can cobots deliver a second growth surge? According to Interact Analysis’ recently published Global Collaborative Robot Market – 2023 report, worldwide revenues from sales of cobots rose by 17.2% during 2022 to reach to $954m, with the number being shipped increasing by 21.9% to 37,780. But, following a rapid rebound in 2021 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the growth rate of the cobot market fell to around 20% last year. Can collaborative robots return to their previously meteoric growth rates of more than 30% within the coming five years? And, if so, where will the growth for a second surge in shipments come from? I will examine the potential for rapid growth in the collaborative robot market from five perspectives: market, product, industry, application and customer. We expect the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of global collaborative robot market shipments to be 27% over the coming five years, with China recording a CAGR of about 30%, and the South American and Southeast Asian regions both achieving annual growth rates exceeding 30%. As shown in the graph, the forecast growth rate for the next few years is higher than 2022 predictions. Unlike prices of traditional industrial robots, which rebounded in 2022, the price of collaborative robots is still dropping, although the magnitude of decline is slowing down. The main reasons behind this are: n In the Chinese market, which accounts for more than half of all shipments, the price decline trend is still significant. Even though most component manufacturers have raised their prices more than once, cobot vendors can still control costs within a reasonable range by using local components. n Market competition is becoming increasingly fierce and it is unsurprising that many leading cobot manufacturers are employing low pricing strategies to drive growth, particularly as they approach a critical juncture for financing or potential listing. n There have been more than 100 large orders placed by customers in the automotive and non-industrial sectors, driving down average prices. n According to our predictions, the trend of price declines for collaborative robots will be relatively shallow over the next five years. The increase in the proportion of >10kg models, combined with the added value of in-machine vision with AI systems, have offset a significant decline in average market prices. As a result, we expect that annual price declines will remain at 3-5%. More intelligence, higher payloads Technologies associated with greater intelligence – including AI and machine vision – are increasingly being promoted by cobot-makers and are starting to influence customers’ purchasing decisions. Cobot vendors want to expand potential applications and are looking at ways of increasing the perceptive capabilities and flexibility of their machines. Demand is growing for cobots that can carry bigger payloads, partly because of the needs of real applications such as palletising and welding, but also to achieve incremental market growth. Faced with competition from small-payload Scara and high-speed small six-axis robots, many cobot vendors are taking advantage of the easy deployment, lightweight bodies, and cost-effectiveness of their machines to develop models with payload capabilities above 10kg. There is also a growing trend for longer arm lengths. Most mainstream cobot manufacturers now provide development kits for systems integrators or customers to conduct secondary development. The trend towards greater openness will make a more comprehensive variety of cobots possible, while also enabling customised versions to be created more effectively. Post-pandemic era The global downturn in 2022 struck a significant blow to the non-industrial sector, with the penetration of collaborative robots into industries such as catering and retail slowing down significantly. The impact of delays to warehousing logistics projects has Growth in the global market for collaborative robots fell slightly last year. Will the market regain its former expansion rates of more than 30%? Maya Xiao, research manager at Interact Analysis, examines the factors affecting sales of these versatile machines. The growth in global shipments of collaborative robots is now expected to be higher than was predicted in 2022. Source: Interact Analysis
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=