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UPDATE 12/2/16: I wrote a more in-depth review of the 2016 US Roadmap for Robotics and it was published today on Robotics Business Review (RBR). You can find the article U.S. Robotics Roadmap Says Basic Funding, Priorities at Stake for White House online at RBR
Original article:
A group of technical and academic resources published the 2016 edition of the US Roadmap for Robotics last week. I am proud to highlight that Dr Henrik I. Christensen, Director of Contextual Robotics from the University of California San Diego (my alma mater), was chair for the publication of this years report.
The 100+ page report outlines recommendations from industry and the academic robotics community to the federal government on the current state and future of robotics. These recommendations include how to safely bring collaborative robots into the workplace with US workers, how to safely bring robotics into the home and the emerging applications for new robotic systems. Overall the report summarizes the strategic importance of robotics and automation technologies to manufacturing industries in the U.S. economy, describes applications where robotics and automation technologies will dramatically increase productivity, and outlines a visionary research and development roadmap with key research areas for immediate investment to reach these goals.
Of note in the report are the following:
- More effective use of robotics, through improved robotics technologies and a well-trained workforce, will increase U.S. jobs and global competitiveness.
- Widespread deployment of improved robotics and automation in manufacturing will:
- Retain intellectual property and wealth that would go off-shore without it
- Save companies by making them more competitive
- Provide jobs for maintaining and training robots
- Allow factories to employ human-robot teams that safely leverage each other’s strengths
- Reduce expensive medical problems
- Reduce time in pipeline for finished goods, allowing systems to be more responsive to changes in retail demand.
Specific market related roadmap information is too numerous and specific to summarize here, you'll just need to review the report to get the details, however here is a taste of some of the application areas of significance in the report:
- Service robotics
- Medical robotics
- Autonomous data gathering and inspection systems
- Manufacturing
- Space robotics
- The state of robotics research in the US
- Sensor and component evolution
- Legal, safety and ethical issues with robotics
This report is dense, but it's worth your time to download a copy and review it for the elements which impact your business.
Links: Roadmap for US Robotics 2016
U.S. Robotics Roadmap Says Basic Funding, Priorities at Stake for White House