By 2020 the number of robots sold worldwide for industrial use is set to top 3 million. This figures sheds light on how the robotics and automation market is likely to develop in industry. This situation poses various challenges and also presents many opportunities for developing new market-adapted business models.

In Global Robot Expo, the international showcase of industrial innovation, automation and digital transformation, the Industry 4.0 Committee of the Spanish Association of Electronics, Digital Contents and ICT Companies (Asociación de Empresas de Electrónica, Tecnologías de la Información, Telecomunicaciones y Contenidos Digitales; AMETIC) organized a discussion panel under the title “Industry 4.0 technologies: completing robotics in industrial plant”. This debate was chaired by Fernando Martín, Sales Manager of Sigfox, and the key participants included Ángel C. Lázaro, Industry Business Partner of GMV’s Secure e-Solutions sector, Ricardo Rodríguez of 3R Industria, Alberto Marín of IDEA Ingeniería and Jon Martínez of Inser Robótica.

During the debate Ángel C. Lázaro explained that the latest robotics breakthroughs all depend on pattern-recognition dynamic guidance as a consequence of the advent of cloud computing, data processing with a graphical processing unit (GPU) and artificial intelligence and vision.

The new market needs, demanding products and services with a high level of personalization, mean that production lines now give more importance to such aspects as modularity and versatility. Robotics thus takes on a new dimension, working with new mechanisms for quick and easy switching of production routines.

We at GMV have been developing control robotics and algorithms for over 25 years now. Within this field we center on industrial robotics and autonomous robotics in hostile environments such as nuclear power plants, deep undersea work, space and other planets. In short, we develop systems with a high degree of operation autonomy.