November 3, 2022

ROSCon 2022 highlights industry growth: 3 takeaways from record-breaking event

What an event!

ROSCon 2022 showed us once again why it’s one of the leading developer conferences around. Experts and enthusiasts from a variety of professional backgrounds dived deep into the world of ROS.

An insightful and educational event spread across three days highlighted trends, breakthroughs and innovations in the ROS space.

As a pioneer in the Canadian robotics market, Avidbots was on hand in Kyoto, Japan to participate in the event.

Here are 3 highlights from ROSCon 2022.

Robot usage is growing across all fields

This year was one of ROSCon’s largest ever events. Representatives from every industry — and 38 countries — were present to share their experiences and know-how. A diverse group of minds eager to collaborate and explore all things ROS.

This attendance landmark shouldn’t have come as a surprise; 2021 saw a record-breaking surge in robot installations worldwide.

 

According to the World Robotics Report, over half a million robots were installed in factories around the world in 2021. Compared to last year, robot adoption grew by 31 percent!

Asia is leading the way as the world’s largest robotics adopter. In fact, 74 percent of all newly deployed robots were in Asia, with China, Japan, Republic of Korea and Taiwan the continent’s largest installers.

In Europe and the Americas, gains of 24 percent and 31 percent respectively saw Germany and the U.S. as each continent’s two biggest robotics adopters. These efforts will continue into 2022 because of current moves by companies to reshore their operations.

Interactions between robots and humans

The need for cooperation among different robot fleets — and humans — is critical. The average industrial facility has numerous autonomous mobile robots (AMR) in operation, such as floor scrubbing and freight robots.

As adoption surges, increasing numbers of AMRs will find their way onto facility floors. The primary benefits of robotics and automation are improvements to productivity and efficiency. Therefore, addressing interoperability will lift the industry as a whole.

ROSCon 2022 demonstrated these efforts are well under way. Open-source libraries and standards, such as OpenRMF, will harmonize efforts across the ROS space. It will also make it easier for academia, industry and upstarts to conduct new research, accelerating the adoption of robots even further.

Affordability and availability of new technologies

Designing and building robots presents many challenges. Chief among them is affordability. From chips to sensors, prohibitive costs stifle innovation and widespread adoption. They also prevent the availability of more sophisticated technologies to inventors looking to create new and exciting robot applications.

That’s why it was fantastic to see the depth and breadth of modern technologies in the ROS sphere. That they’re available at a price that makes them practical and affordable is good news for roboticists and developers. The capabilities of these innovative technologies alongside their miniaturization open new avenues. We can’t wait to see what next year brings!

 

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