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Robotics Engineering

Robotics engineering is a type of engineering that deals with the design & manufacture of robots, has been exploding since 2014 when there was a staggering $340 million injected into the industry.

Innovation in robotics engineering has delivered technological advances like drones, self-driving cars, and desktop robots, and these breakthroughs continue to come in many shapes and forms. It overlaps other branches of engineering like computer science, electronics, mechatronics, bioengineering, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence.

Crunch Reviews has taken a look at the progression of the robotics industry in recent history. Here are some of the most interesting innovations in the robotics game today.

The State of Robotics Engineering

The Atlas robot, developed by Boston Dynamics, is a humanoid robot that uses much of the same technology that is impacting other modern developments. It can circumnavigate through obstacles and climb stairs. This is the same technology that applies to self-driving cars, which allows them to drive through busy streets and navigate bends without hitting anything on their way.

The robots perceive the environment around them, make calculations, and take the safest, most effective action possible. Artificial intelligence will take the market by storm in the future, with more complex developments coming up.

It is interesting to note that through artificial intelligence, machines can observe and learn. In addition to the innovations coming out of Boston Dynamics, computer scientists from Stanford have developed an AI capable of learning to pilot aircraft and perform stunts by observing a pilot.

Robotics Vision

The Future of Robotics Engineering

In the coming years, exponential changes are possible in the circle of robotics engineering. It is predicted that:

1. Robots will be the most preferred mode of service delivery in the form of a robot-as-a-service (RaaS) model.
2. By the year 2019, 30 percent of industry organizations will have a chief robotics officer or some other leadership role-specific to robotics and its role in their business.
3. The competitive landscape will evolve as more companies enter the industry and offer robotics services; this will mean more options for consumers.
4. By 2020, the growth of the industry will have outpaced the growth of the available talent-pool to such a degree that 35 percent of robotics-related positions will be vacant, and salaries for those positions will have increased by as much as 60 percent.
5. Regulations will be introduced by governments to prevent automation-related job losses, as well as to address safety and privacy issues.

Future innovations will not stop at a technology that limits what a robot can do. For this reason, scientists will use a combination of computing, intelligence, and communication technologies to create the next generation of autonomous robots. More attention will be given to the ability to share information, deliver, build, and perform physical tasks.

Robot Technology

Medical Robots

robotics in medicine

A lot of focus has been given to autonomous mobile robots, and the hope is that in the future they will perform medical procedures on patients in remote locations.

The procedures will include surgeries with little or no human guidance, and they will mostly rely on nanorobots developed through advances in miniaturization. Other processes involve clearing clogged arteries, administering drugs, and repairing genes.

Drone

Drones are the other innovations that are receiving a lot of funding and innovation, especially in China. Some outstanding drone types include the 3DR, Parrot, DJI, GoPro, Yuneec, and eHang.

The functions of these drones are shifting from surveying, imagery, and surveillance towards deliveries as with Alibaba and SF Express in China.

The other category is cognitive robots, which function as office assistants or companions for the blind or elderly. These anthropomorphic robots can help convert manufacturing from a resource-intensive process to a knowledge-intensive one. Creating factories that do not require any human involvement.

In this category also falls the agricultural robotics that takes care of farms through their sensors that detect information about the crop status. They can also make use of data-based techniques to make decisions related to management.

See Also: Flying Hover Quadcopter Drone

Where Do Opportunities Lie? Robotics Engineering

• Robots perform what they are configured to do. Meaning that as much as they can do what you want them to, they can as well do what you do not want them to. This depends on the object and face recognition. Like:  inverse kinematics, collaborative automation, and image processing chips that are installed within them. Mass production of quality robots will require serious cost reduction in these chips and CPUs.
• There is only limited funding for this branch of robotics. There is still a big room for building expertise before investors can plunge themselves deep in the industry.
• Most of the start-ups that have benefited from funding lack talent. Most of them rely on in-house training, but some (like Tesla) have resorted to aggressive poaching from rivals.
• Robots have a limitation because of their image. The public is yet to accept that robots can take over their jobs entirely. This perception is hindering the application of a more rational approach to the industry.

Robotics process automation

Robotics engineering / industrial robots

The robotics industry is growing, and shortly, the technology will be applied in front-office operations and other types of jobs. The technology is behind the success of Amazon warehouses, where robotic eyes do all the work.

It will be used in many more fields for more accuracy and consistency in industries like manufacturing. Robotics engineering might be the answer that people are looking for where they will reduce costs and increase profits.