Business Needs Are Driving Robotics Technology Trends
Modern businesses face pressure to move faster and meet ever-growing customer expectations while realizing higher levels of business efficiency. To meet this challenge, companies are looking for ways to implement robotics and help ensure that employees can focus on the most critical and meaningful tasks. They’re finding a virtually limitless number of valuable use cases, such as autonomous concierge robots in shopping malls, robotic arms in manufacturing plants, last-mile delivery robots, and even sanitation and cleaning robots.
Across all industries, robotics manufacturers want to find the right balance of price, performance, and form factor with their robotics hardware. Manufacturers need to deliver outstanding results via flexible, scalable designs. They require tools and technologies to deliver the right functionality—including AI inference—at the right cost and location, via the right form factor or robot type.
Get to Know Today’s Robotics Landscape
Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)
AMRs use sensors and cameras to ingest information about their surroundings and onboard computing to make near-real-time decisions as they move around the world.
Articulated Robots
Articulated robots (also known as robotic arms) emulate the functions of a human arm. Typically, these can feature anywhere from two to 10 rotary joints.
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
AGVs travel along tracks or preset routes and often require operator oversight as they deliver materials and move items.
Humanoids
Humanoid robots perform human-centric functions (such as wayfinding or other information services) and often take human-like forms.
Cobots
Cobots share spaces with human workers to help them accomplish more.
Hybrids
The various types of robots are often combined to create hybrid solutions that are capable of more complex tasks.
Industry Applications for Robotics Solutions
Today, robots are being used to fulfill a wide variety of functions across many industries.
Warehouses, Logistics, and Manufacturing
Industrial companies are using robotics as part of their Industrial IoT strategy to perform both heavy- and light-duty operations, automate the warehouse, conduct hazardous tasks, and carry out safety inspections. Logistics suppliers are enabling automated fulfillment and inventory management through robotic arms and AMRs.
Healthcare
Healthcare providers rely on robotics technology for critical needs such as surface disinfection, telepresence, medication delivery, and rehabilitation.
Retail, Banking, and Hospitality
Retailers, banks, and hospitality companies are using robotics to streamline and enhance the customer experience—from customer service to inventory automation, room service, luggage assistance, and wayfinding.
Smart Cities
Smart and connected cities use robots to enhance quality of life for their citizens. Robotics is being deployed in cities and communities for cleaning, wayfinding, and public security.
Robotics Success Stories
See how Intel and our partners are making new innovations possible.
Accelerating Automation Adoption in Factories and Warehouses
Learn how AAEON uses Intel® technology to streamline the process of creating AMRs.
Assisting Hospitals with Faster, More-Effective Sanitization
Find out how Akara uses Intel® technologies to power autonomous, intelligent cleaning robots.
Automating In-Store Retail Operations
Discover how Intel® RealSense™ computer vision technology helps Simbe Robotics improve retail inventory management.
How Intel Enables Robotics Solutions
Intel provides the essential building blocks that are used to create connected, intelligent, and reliable robotics solutions.
Real-Time Systems
Intel offers the hardware and reference system‒level software needed to develop real-time applications for robotics solutions where reliability and predictability are critical to operation and safety.
Functional Safety
We’ve adopted a comprehensive safety approach across Intel® processors and accelerators, allowing customers to accelerate development while meeting safety-critical requirements.
AI
Intel® machine learning, inference, and computer vision technologies help robots understand the world around them and intelligently take action.
Security
Our hardware-level security features deliver deep-rooted protection for robots and edge computing devices.
Manageability
Hardware-level remote access and control make it easier to support and manage robots and their associated edge devices.
Industrial-Grade Computing
Our ruggedized compute solutions are designed to withstand the hazardous environments and high temperatures commonly associated with certain robotics use cases.
Intel® Hardware for Robotics Solutions
Intel® Processors for IoT
Our latest processors for IoT offer unique features for functional safety and real-time performance—making them ideal for robotics use cases. Our Intel® Core™ and Intel Atom® solutions deliver the real-time performance and flexibility required by robotics technologies. Our Intel® Xeon® processors are frequently used in the edge servers that work alongside robots in the field.
Intel® RealSense™ Computer Vision Technologies
Our comprehensive portfolio of computer vision cameras, hardware, and software bring spatial awareness to robotics solutions.
Intel® FPGAs
Our programmable solutions enable innovative designs in robotics solutions across a wide range of industries and applications.
Network Communications Technologies
Our portfolio of networking technologies supports the real-time performance requirements of today’s robotics technologies.
Tools and Technologies for Robotics Software Development
Intel provides robotics solutions companies with foundational edge computing platforms that standardize and accelerate product development. Our tools can help simplify and accelerate the development process for robotics software companies and help them run edge computing applications more flexibly.
Edge Insights for Autonomous Mobile Robots
Develop, build, and deploy end-to-end mobile robot applications with this purpose-built, open, and modular software development kit.
Intel® Edge Software Hub
Use converged edge insights recipes to build and deploy intelligence-based applications.
Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ Toolkit
Get essential tools and prebuilt components to streamline development of AI inference capabilities for robotics solutions.
Intel® DevCloud
Develop, test, and optimize robotics software remotely with Intel® DevCloud to avoid system configuration headaches and accelerate your processes.
What Is a PLC?
Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are critical tools for managing and operating robotics, especially in industrial environments.
Partner with Us on Your Next Robotics Project
Let’s discuss your next initiative and how Intel® technologies can help enable the robotics solution you need.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What industries are using robotics solutions?
Robotics is used across many industries to enable workers to focus on the most critical and valuable tasks. Industrial and manufacturing organizations, warehousing and logistics companies, healthcare providers, and retail, banking, and hospitality companies are using robots to deliver enhanced business outcomes.
What are the key trends in the robotics industry?
Robotics manufacturers need to deliver cutting-edge, scalable solutions at optimal prices. They’re seeking to deliver flexible, high-performance designs to help their customers achieve their goals.
What are the typical hardware components of a robot?
Robots need to be able to see, plan, and act. To do so, they require sensors (such as cameras) that allow them to intake information about the world around them—plus processing power to help them analyze the information and make a decision. Finally, they need actuation tools that allow them to take action in the physical world.
What software is involved in robots?
Artificial intelligence software is critical to enabling robots to function autonomously. It allows them to understand the information captured by their various sensor technologies and quickly make a logical decision based on the inputs.