Robots: Everything under control

Booming bass, glittering lights, a cheering audience – it was an unusually large stage for an automation system. At the beginning of October 2024, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had several robots in human form appear at a company event. “Everything we have developed for our cars; advanced motors, batteries, gearboxes, the software, the AI processors, its computer, it all actually applies to a humanoid robot,” said Musk. At the event, the robots served drinks to the guests; away from the spotlight, these robots will soon be working in-house at the US car manufacturer. A few days after the event, however, tech media demystified the impressive images. Most of the robots' movements were remotely controlled by employees behind the scenes.

The buzz goes to show, however, that robots designed for industrial use also have great appeal for those outside the industry. And beyond these images, things are also advancing – in the truest sense of the word. The number of robots is increasing, their use is paying off far more often and their operating range is growing wider and wider. “A lot is changing in this market,” says Jörg Rommelfanger, who heads the Robotics Division of Swiss manufacturer ABB in Germany.

The “World Robotics Report” published in the fall by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), an association in the global manufacturing industry, counted more than half a million newly installed systems for the year 2023. Around 4.2 million robots were working worldwide at the turn of 2023/2024. The automotive industry was the largest user, with 135,000 robots. This was followed by the electronics industry, which had similar sales figures. Companies from the metal and mechanical engineering sectors installed 77,000 robots, 16% more devices than in the previous year.

More than four million robots are already working around the world today, often hand in hand with humans. These ever new developments hold a fascinating appeal.

It is always the case that companies deploy one, several or hundreds of robots in production not out of a love of technology, but for economic reasons. And this is becoming increasingly common: “Automation used to be a nice-to-have, today it's a must-have,” says Mladen Milicevic, founder of Unchained Robotics. The Paderborn-based company helps SMEs to find the right automation solutions, and launched the “MalocherBot” on the market last year. This product offers complete solutions for popular applications such as palletizing, grinding or picking, i.e. putting together baskets of goods in the warehouse.

The underlying reasons for the growth in robotics are similar around the globe. It's always about finding the highest possible production efficiency. In many cases, this search is accelerated by some form of skills shortage; either there is a complete lack of employees to take on unpleasant, strenuous, repetitive or dangerous work, or they demand such high hourly wages that using robots pays off more quickly.

Or the growth of a production company is limited by a lack of personnel, while robots can take over the night shift without complaint and operate with exactly the same degree of precision in their twelfth working hour as in their first. Following supply chain problems in recent years, some sectors have started to bring parts of their production back closer to headquarters in order to be able to produce more reliably. The higher the wage level, the more likely it is that a robot will pay off. “In many countries, cost-effective production is a key driver,” says René Kring, “we are seeing this trend worldwide and across all industries.” Kring is responsible for business development in the Automation Solutions division at Cloos, which operates in the welding technology field, in particular.

The use of industrial robots has long since ceased to be a technical gimmick and is now a decisive factor in economic calculations.

A second, parallel development is also ensuring that employing robotics is economically feasible for more and more companies, namely that prices have fallen significantly in recent years: first, through the development of so-called cobots. These are lightweight robots that are often mobile and interact more closely with employees in production. And second, due to the fact that machine assistants can now be produced much more cheaply, driven primarily by the emergence of Chinese robotics companies.

This puts pressure on margins. However, this price drop also has a positive consequence for manufacturers, as the number of potential customers increases. Whereas in the past it was almost exclusively industrial mass markets – above all the automotive industry – where robots shaped parts without a break, the use of automation is now becoming more attractive for medium-sized companies, small businesses and even tradespeople. “Technology is enabling us to enter new markets that were previously closed to us,” says Rommelfanger.

Sometimes there is a basic question that needs to be answered: does the industry choose robots that replicate the familiar workflow? If so, the upshot is often high adjustment costs, and it can also take a long time to find exactly the right solution. “This is currently still causing a bottleneck in automation,” says Milicevic, “more ‘plug & play solutions’ would be helpful here.” The dream of many users is to order a robot, set it up, connect it and off it goes.

We’re not quite at that stage yet, but we’re heading in the right direction. Although starting prices are falling, the technical possibilities have expanded considerably in recent years. At first glance, the vast majority of industrial robots still look very much like their ancestors from the 1970s or 1980s: a gripper arm, driven by one or more electric motors, moves in different directions and is fitted with the appropriate tool.

The way they work has mostly remained the same – the mechanics of today's industrial robots are highly developed. Potential for optimization comes, for example, from the use of materials such as carbon fiber or even high-performance plastics. This means that robots can now be built with a lower basic weight, ensuring a more compact design but the same performance. New drives, such as torque motors, help to operate the arms of the automation assistants more efficiently and with less maintenance.

However, the crucial development tends to happen in areas that are not visible: “Software will be decisive for the question of how quickly and economically corresponding applications can be brought to market,” says Georg Stieler, Managing Director of the specialist Stieler Technology & Marketing Consultancy (STM). Kring also sees this as the decisive factor: “The capabilities of software and control hardware are increasing enormously, pushing the performance of robots even further.”

Wherever large amounts of data are generated, artificial intelligence (AI) is not far away. Many visions are once again focusing on how to adapt more quickly to new conditions. In robotics, for example, this could help to independently develop working patterns in the future. When it comes to welding technology, Kring describes the possibility of components being scanned automatically – and the system knows, thanks to machine learning, where which type of weld seam needs to be placed in order to meet the given specifications. Also conceivable is the ability to translate and break down voice commands or customer documentation directly into different work steps.

Mechanical helpers are thus becoming increasingly networked systems that, in the best case, also communicate with each other across various production steps and robots. This makes the solutions simpler for the companies using them. In the background, however, things can become more complex. Software manufacturers and tech companies are now being added to the old mix of robot manufacturers, specialists for the manipulators (that is, the tools) and integrators who connect everything together.