Fully autonomous factories not yet in sight

Dutch industry is increasingly looking at robotics as a solution to structural challenges such as staff shortages and increasing production pressure. At the same time, a clear tension is emerging between expectation and reality. New research by reichelt elektronik, conducted by research institute OnePoll among Dutch industrial companies, shows that they are highly committed to further automation, but that fully autonomous factories are not yet in sight.

Although robotics is now widely adopted, with 79 per cent of Dutch companies using it, the extent to which production processes are actually automated in practice still appears to be limited. Currently, the majority of companies (71 per cent) use robots to perform less than 40 per cent of the work, while only a small group (6 per cent) has automated more than 60 per cent of the production process. At the same time, almost 3 in 5 (58%) companies expect their production process to be fully automated within five years, showing that expectations for the near future are high.

Commitment to further automation

Robotics plays a central role in how companies are trying to accelerate this development. For instance, 62 per cent of respondents indicate that robotics is an important key to addressing the shortage of qualified personnel, and the willingness to invest is high. For 59 per cent of companies, the budget for robotics investment has increased in recent years, and for 15 per cent even significantly.

Autonomous factories not yet in sight

At the same time, there are still clear barriers delaying further automation and autonomous factories. Companies say they mainly need easier programming and operation (31%), lower costs (28%) and further technological developments that expand the capabilities of robots (27%). Practical challenges around implementation and integration into existing processes also continue to play an important role (24%), which explains why automation is often incremental.

Rise of humanoid robots

In that context, companies are also looking ahead to new forms of robotics beyond the current generation of industrial systems. Humanoid robots, which are modelled on humans in terms of shape and movements, are still at the beginning of their development, but are attracting interest. Currently, 13 per cent of companies are already using such robots, while 21 per cent are considering investing in them.

Automating repetitive tasks

Currently, humanoid robots are mainly used to automate repetitive or physically demanding tasks (46%) and to improve operational efficiency (33%). In addition, a significant proportion of companies are using them to experiment with new applications (31%), indicating that the technology is still in an exploratory phase. This shows that humanoid robots are mainly seen as a possible next step in the evolution of robotics, but have not yet broken through into practice on a large scale.

Technological innovations

Meanwhile, the development of robotics is being accelerated by technological innovations. In particular, companies cite artificial intelligence (36%) and improved sensor technology (32%) as factors enabling robots to perform more complex tasks and function better in dynamic environments.

Autonomous intelligence

"The future of robotics lies in systems that are not only more efficient, but also more flexible and intelligent," says Janßen. "Whereas traditional robots focus mainly on repetition and scale, we see that new technologies make it possible to automate increasingly complex and human-centred tasks. Humanoid robots are an interesting example of this: they show where the industry is moving towards, but also that this future is still developing."

Image by Michal Jarmoluk via Pixabay

Also read: IFR: AI, autonomous systems and humanoids determine development of robotics this year