Impact Of Covid-19 On Professional Service Robots Market

30 April 2020:  When we hear the word robot, many of us picture human-like machines made of metal, but that's not always the case. A Robot can be referred to as a machine able to automatically perform a task or series of tasks based on its programming and its environment.

Before jumping onto professional service robots, we need to be familiar with the word robotics. Robotics is a sub-field of automation that combines several different disciplines, all aimed at creating tools that can perform tasks that are too time-consuming, risky, or need more precision than the average person can perform.

Now, as we are familiar with robotics. Let's hop on to professional service robots.

What is Professional Service Robots?

A professional service robot is a type of robot which is used within a professional environment to perform challenging tasks with higher reliability and efficiency by assisting humans rather than replacing them. They are either semi or fully-autonomous robots and are installed in difficult situations, such as space and defense sectors, agricultural applications, and demolition, to automate hazardous or laborious tasks. Professional service robots primarily find their use in the retail, hospitality, health care, and logistics industries. Lately, owing to the technological advances in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning, motion control, and various other fields, the market for professional service robots has expanded. The global professional service robots market is expected to reach USD 182.0 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 41% from 2020 to 2027, according to a research by Grand View Research, Inc.

Uses Of Professional Service Robots

Professional Service Robots are used in a range of industries owing to their productivity. Few of its uses are:

Agriculture: Professional service robots are experiencing high demand in the agriculture sector owing to its capability to perform labor-intensive agriculture practices.

Defense: When used in the defense sector professional service robots primarily assist the military in combat scenarios. Its key job is to enhance a soldier's capability to neutralize the enemy. With the usage of professional service robots in defense, militaries gain an extra edge by giving its soldiers an advantage at the ground level.

Logistics: Professional service robots are primarily used in the logistics industry to move and store goods, to keep the supply chain moving. Professional service robots offer great productivity and efficiency by reducing manual labor.

Customer Service: Professional service robots that come in humanoid and non-humanoid forms are used in the customer service segment. Its key usage involves assisting customers in finding an item or completing a task. These robots are generally deployed in the retail industry to assist the customer.

Healthcare: In the healthcare sector, skilled professional service robots are used to boost the overall quality of patient care. It reduces the workload of medical staff, allowing them to spend more time directly caring for patients, while at the same time creating major operating efficiencies and reducing costs for healthcare services.

Along with these major usages, professional service robots also finds its usage in other segments such as space, construction, inspection, all of which are expected to augment the market growth in the future.

Applications Of Professional Service Robots

The automation of logistics is gaining momentum because of the customer-driven economy, which requires scalable and quick delivery of goods. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) as the primary application in the logistics industry are used in warehouses to transport goods. These AGVs operate in a predefined pathway for moving and storing goods in the storage facilities. It reduces the timeline of product movement along with reducing the cost of logistics.

The numerous application of healthcare professional service robots include remote care robots, disinfectant robots to reduce hospital-acquired diseases, and robotic exoskeletons that provide external assistance and muscle recovery training. Recently, UVD Robots, a Danish company announced to ship its self-driving disinfectant robots to several hospitals in China to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Defense professional service robots are custom made in different sizes and shapes according to the need of the organization. These tactically important robots serve the military by protecting and helping soldiers in numerous situations. Exoskeleton robots are one of the few professional service robots used in defense applications, these come in various forms to enhance strength and protect soldiers from strain injury. This growing demand for exoskeleton robots and Research & Development in the sector is expected to further propel the growth for the market.

Future Of Professional Service Robots

The future of professional service robots is on the rise owing to the technological advancements which can solve some of the biggest barriers the industry is facing.

The advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques can bring professional service robots much closer to the cognitive condition where they can interact with a human in a particular environment. Every step in the development of improving the natural language processing of professional service robots is significant. Apart from cognition, artificial intelligence allows humans to streamline back-end processes, respond to data-related problems, and meet compliance that helps humans to speed up customer service and carry out administrative tasks more efficiently.

The technological advancements in edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips which can run on a device without a cloud connection offers big benefits to privacy and speed as AI processing can happen on the device itself. These chips specifically designed for AI computations draw far less power for a given amount of processing, making it easier to fit the necessary number of chips into the design of a professional service robot.

Connectivity is one of the major challenges in the deployment of robots. Professional service robots require a stable and reliable connection whenever it needs to go mobile. Wi-Fi and 4G can't guarantee the quality of service plus 4G wireless networks can be expensive with excessive limitations. This is where the development of 5G technology excites the industry and can solve the issue with improved reliability, reduced latency, and increased connection density.

Impact Of Covid-19 On Professional Service Robots Market

As the number of people infected with the coronavirus continues to rise globally, it is expected to drive the market growth for professional service robots. The outbreak of COVID-19 has left the healthcare sector with staff shortages whereas the need for social distancing has left the service industry high and dry. Professional service robots can fill in the gaps in these sectors. Robots can be deployed in hospitals to minimize human intervention at any level. These robots can perform tasks such as Inspection, Cleaning, Security to assist the staff during this pandemic. For instance, medical professionals in the U.S. are using a telepresence robot that is equipped with a stethoscope which helps take vitals of the infected person. InTouch Health robot, which is fitted with a microphone and a camera communicates with the infected person and minimize medical staff's exposure to the disease.