Robotics combine technology and science to breed robots that can undertake jobs humans can’t or won’t do. These robots undertake the most tedious, dirtiest, and dangerous tasks, leaving humans to expand their knowledge in other things.
Even though robots aren’t taking over our planet, they are quickly becoming prevalent in many industries. From healthcare and defense to manufacturing and education. The utilization of manufacturing robots, particularly, has become popular in the manufacturing industry.
Reports show that, as of 2022, this industry employs about 126 industrial robots per 10,000 human workers on average.
The Automotive industry, in particular, relies heavily on semiautomatic and automatic robots. So far, this industry accounts for about 42% of installed units in the manufacturing industry.
Recent advancements in computer science, mechanical and electronics engineering have helped robot manufacturing companies develop robots that can carry out:
– Military tasks
– Domestic tasks
– Commercials jobs
Moreover, these robots carry out these jobs with super precision and unmatched speed, breeding high-quality results at minimal labor costs. But which companies are behind this robotics success?
Here is a list of the best robotics companies in the world as of 2022:
iRobot
Three individuals who worked in the MIT artificial intelligence lab founded the iRobot company in 1990. Currently, the company is located in Massachusetts in the United States of America.
The iRobot company manufactures and designs consumer robots of all sorts.
So far, this company has been able to successfully sell around 31 million units, and they have also deployed around five thousand security and defense robots.
The most successful iRobot Robotic Systems
Braava
They are special bots that mops the floor. The braava robots operate on both hard and soft surfaces efficiently.
Roomba
It features a unique series of automatic vacuum cleaner robots. These robots are equipped with sensors and other obstacle avoidance systems to operate efficiently.
The iRobots company has also worked with the Intouch Health organization to build medical bots known as RP-VITA. By using this robot, medical professionals can provide their services remotely.
In addition, we term the RP-VITA robots as cloud-connected, which means they can easily access a patient’s medical records anytime, anywhere.
Moreover, due to the cloud connection feature, you can also connect these robots with various diagnostic devices such as stethoscopes and otoscopes.
Intuitive Surgical
The Intuitive Surgical Company started back in 1995. It is located in California in the USA and mostly deals with robots that optimize clinical outcomes via minimally invasive surgeries.
Their most popular product is called as the da Vinci Surgical System. Surgeons utilize this robot to repair cardiac valves, remove parts of the prostate gland, and undertake gynecological surgeries.
Having an annual revenue that stands around 4.5 billion dollars, Intuitive Surgical Company is actually part of NASDAQ-100 and the S and P 500.
As of 2022, Intuitive has successfully installed around 5,600 units of da Vinci Surgical robots, including 800+ units in Asia, 1000+ units in Europe, and 3700 units in the USA.
Additionally, Intuitive Surgical has also created an endoluminal platform known as Ion, which is robotic-assisted. The platform is useful in undertaking minimally invasive peripheral lung biopsy.
Due to Ion’s ultra-slim catheter, shape sensing tech, and flexible needle, improves the precisions of a biopsy immensely. Additionally, Ion helps surgeons reach even hard-to-access nodules found outside airways.
In general, intuitive surgical products’ consistent interface, upgradable architecture, and flexible configurations have all helped make this company stand out.
Boston Dynamics
Marc Raibert, a famous computer science and electrical engineering professor at MIT started Boston Dynamics in 1992. However, as of 2022, the owner of the company Hyundai Motor. It is present in Massachusetts in the USA, and it mostly focuses on the production of dynamic autonomous mobile robots and mobile devices.
Their most famous products include:
– Spot
– Cheetah
– LittleDog
– Handle
– Atlas
– BigDog.
Most of these robots are configured to handle challenging terrains easily and to handle automated tasks under harsh environments.
In 2019, the Boston Dynamic Company began developing bots for commercial use. Spot, a four-legged bot, was their trial robot in this endeavor. During their launch to the public, spot robots had a price tag of 74,500 dollars.
However, as of 2022, spot bots are mostly utilized by the fire department and police officers to gain remote visibility of areas that are potentially dangerous. Using these robots, these two departments have been able to make more informed decisions which have, in most cases, saved many lives.
Denso Robotics
Denso Robotics Company started in 1949 and is situated in California in the USA. The company manufactures and develops tiny assembly bots and software. As of 2022, Over 50,000
Denso bots are very essential in the auto industry, and 16,000 more are useful in Denso companies worldwide.
Denso Robotics offers a wide range of high-speed, compact robots, which include 5-axis and 6-axis articulated bots and 4-axis SCARA bots. These robot variations come bearing a precision of around 0.015, and they can handle a maximum weight of 88 pounds.
Moreover, manufacturers utilize these robots for:
– Inspecting
– Machine tending
– Screwing, processing
– Assembly applications
Denso bots function properly in damp, dusty, and clinical environments. Moreover, you can easily program and manipulate every model using an intuitive interface.
Denso robots are ANSI and CE compliant, which means you can deploy them globally, with UL-listed bot models already available in Canada and the USA.
Kawasaki Robotics
Kawasaki Robotics Company started back in 1968 in Akashi, Japan. The company created its first manufacturing robot in 1969, breeding a new era of commercially produced industrial robots in Japan. Since then, Kawasaki Robotics Company has shipped over 220,000 units worldwide.
Kawasaki bots offer multiple services in various sectors. These bots are mainly for:
- silicon wafer handling
- Spot welding
- Arc welding
- Dispensing
- Painting
- Palletizing
- Material handling
- Assembly
In addition to developing top-notch manufacturing robots, Kawasaki Robotics also provides various robotics solutions catered to clients’ requirements for labor-saving measures and automation.
These incredible solutions help clients improve their product’s quality and also optimize their worker’s productivity.
Yaskawa Electric Corporation
Yaskawa Electrical Corp started in 1915 in Kitakyushu, Japan. The company mainly manufactures:
– Servos
– Motion controllers
– Industrial robots
– AC motors
Back in 1977, Yaskawa Electric Corp created Japan’s very first all-electric manufacturing robot known as Motoman. Since then, Yaskawa Electric Corp has delivered over 500,000 units globally.
Motoman bots are powerful manufacturing bots utilized for:
– Coating
– General automation
– Assembly
– Welding
Many industries including logistics, medical, electronic equipment, and semiconductor manufacturing use these robots.
On average, Yaskawa Electric Generates an annual revenue of around 3.5 billion dollars, of which 1 billion dollars come from robots and robotic products alone.
Intending to present tech trends such as IoT and AI, Yaskawa Electric is now focusing on a new concept solution known as i3 Mechatronics. By using this technology, the company is looking to revolutionize industrial automation. The goal of this project will be to collect and then analyze data to boost productivity and optimize the assembly line process.
Kuka
Kuka was founded in 1898, and its headquarters is in Bavaria, Germany. The company focuses on producing multiple industrial robots, all of which have varying payload reaches and capacities.
In addition, the Kuka Company also creates application-specific bot peripheral equipment, for example:
– End effectors and
– Linear units.
Kuka bots are mostly utilized by automotive manufacturing companies. Their top clients include BMW, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Volvo, and Volkswagen.
Kuka also offers services and products for the automation of tasks in the manufacturing process of non-metallic and metallic materials. These components are utilized in multiple industrial sectors, including:
– Agriculture machinery
– Aerospace
– Railways
The Kuka robot package usually encompasses a robot, an operator control element, a controller, and software. Moreover, the Kuka has also generated a proprietary programming language known as the KUKA Robot language. By utilizing this language, users can easily configure their robots precisely.
Fanuc
Fanuc was founded back in 1958, and it is situated in Yamanashi, Japan. The company’s name Fanuc is short for the Fuji Automatic Numerical Control company.
Fanuc is a successful Japanese company that offers various automation services and products, including computer numerical control systems and robots. With over 25 million robots installed globally, this company is currently the largest robot manufacturing company in the world.
Fanuc designs and produces all robot components, including:
– Software, controllers
– Sensors
– Mechanical arms
– Servos motors
Moreover, Fanuc has over one hundred bot models specifically designed to tackle generic applications. These generic models support a payload of around 5000 pounds, maximum reaches of about 4.7 meters, and straightforward integration.
The robot series known as I, in particular, encompasses robots equipped with sophisticated enhanced controllers. The robots also feature networking capabilities to easily handle diverse tasks.
Fanuc has also created a simulation software known as ROBOGUIDE. The simulation software lets users accurately evaluate and design robot systems of all kinds.
ABB
ABB was founded in 1988 and is situated in Zurich, Switzerland. The company mainly deals with machine automation services and robotics.
Since its founding, ABB has been offering technologically innovative solutions to multiple industries which include:
– Healthcare
– Logistics
– Automotive
– Electronics
The organization is home to over 11,000 employees across 53 different countries.
ABB has a huge portfolio in collaborative robots (cobots) and industrial bots. The IRB 5720 and 5710, for instance, are utilized in industries for metal fabrication, forging, and EV manufacturing.
As of 2022, the company has successfully shipped over 500,000 bot solutions globally.
The company has also generated a software solution that helps optimize the speed and precision of assembling electronics. The high-speed alignment software lets manufacturers increase the accuracy of the 6-axis bot by around 50%. The software also boosts this robot’s speed by around 70%, significantly reducing the assembly time of the product while increasing the precision of the process.
Thriving Industrial Robotics Companies
Epson
When most people hear the word Epson, the first thing that comes to mind is desktop printers. However, this company has also developed a robotic arm that plays a major role in the manufacturing industry.
The company was founded in 1942 and is situated in Nagano, Japan. Epson first introduced its robots to the south and North American robotic market in 1984. Since then, their robots have found multiple applications in various industries making Epson one of the most productive industrial robotics companies.
As of 2022, the company bears an annual revenue of about 9.6 billion dollars. Out of this annual revenue, 1.32 billion dollars mostly comes from industrial and wearable products.
Staubli
Staubli is an industrial robotics company that was founded in 1892 and is situated in Switzerland. The company began by manufacturing weaving automation. However, as time passed, Staubli grew and opted to diversify into the robotics industry.
Since the company hit the robotics market, it grew rapidly, becoming a popular brand in the robotics industry.
As of 2022, the company now has an annual revenue of about 1.2 billion dollars.
Universal Robots
Universal Robots is a robotics manufacturing company that was founded back in 2005. The company is situated in Odense, Denmark, and primarily focuses on collaborative robots (cobots).
Since the time that it was founded, universal robots have grown tremendously. Now the company earns annual revenue of about 219 million dollars.
Advantages of having Robotics companies and Robotic systems around
Industrial robots help maximize throughput and increase productivity
Manufacturing companies work day in and day out trying to figure out ways that they can help manufacturers maximize throughput and productivity.
As of the 21st century, they have been able to develop robots that can operate 24/7. That is because robots do not require shifts or breaks. Once they start working, you can shut them down when you complete the job.
What’s more, robots work at a higher speed, ultimately increasing throughput.
Better consistency and Quality for Companies utilizing Industrial automation
Robotics Companies provide manufacturing companies with industrial robots that manufacture products with better precision when compared to human workers. What’s more, these robots can maintain this precision every time they produce a product; this breeds consistency of good quality.
Due to this aspect, manufacturing companies can produce multiple high-quality goods in a short period.
Moreover, since robots maintain this consistency throughout the manufacturing period, they rarely produce defective goods. Hence, you can divert time that could have been spent fixing defective goods to carry out more important things.
Improve safety for Humans
When humans undertake highly repetitive jobs for an extended period, they become prone to a condition known as musculoskeletal. However, monotonous operations can’t affect robots. On the contrary, they actually thrive in them. Due to this, Robotic companies have found ways to generate robots that can tackle highly repetitive tasks. With robots handling such tasks, human workers can focus on things like scaling upwards on the company’s ladder.
Robots are also useful in the manufacturing industry to tackle dangerous tasks and tasks that need to be undertaken under pretty hostile conditions. In addition, managers can monitor these processes remotely.
Lower labor costs
The initial cost of purchasing a robot from a robotics companies can be pretty high. However, after procuring the robot, you’ll find that it is pretty beneficial in terms of cutting labor costs. That is because a robot can handle tasks faster and with more precision. Plus, the robots can operate 24/7 without resting.
Job Opportunities
Robots need to be maintained, operated and programmed, only humans can achieve all these tasks. Therefore, robots also provide job opportunities to human.
Additionally, robotic companies require human employees to manufacture robots. That also generates job opportunities to many workers.
Disadvantages of Robotic and Robotic Companies
Even though robot manufacturers have brought a lot of benefits to the human race and the planet as a whole, this industry still has some downsides. Some limitations of having robotic companies around include:
Expensive Robots
After manufacturing robots, Robotic companies slam a huge price tag on the bot. What’s more, you must pay extra money for configuration and installation after procuring the bot. These cost factors deter small businesses from purchasing robots to utilize in their companies.
However, larger companies can procure these machines and utilize them to optimize their production process.
With no means to fight back in terms of market competition, small businesses mostly shut down and leave larger companies running the show.
Lack of Sufficient Experts to Run Robotic Company Products
Robots require sophisticated programming, operation, and maintenance. Even though the number of experts in this department is growing steadily, as of 2022, it is still limited. Due to this limitation, companies have to mostly employ new, specifically robotic experts, to manage the robots. That adds to the company’s budget.
However, some companies also opt to train their employees to help them operate the robots. Though this is a relatively cheaper alternative, managers still must utilize resources to train their existing staff.
Ongoing Costs
Even though robots tend to reduce the production cost of a company, they also come bearing their expenses which include maintenance.
In addition, bot users must ensure that their robots are safe from cyber-attacks.
Conclusion
The field of robotics has grown tremendously over time. In this growth period, different companies have found a niche in the industry and stuck on to it, breeding incredible machines that we utilize today. So now, when surgeons are performing surgery, they mostly turn to robots to achieve more precision. If you need a phone, you’ll find that a company utilizes a bot to make that phone. In one way or another, these companies have brought change to everyday life; that goes without saying.
