Daily Archives: August 13, 2020

A decline in global investment did not directly affect robotics transactions in July 2020. In spite of the novel coronavirus pandemic and trade disputes, robotics companies raised more than $1.9 billion in funding last month. Autonomous vehicle companies received the most funding, followed by aerial drones, industrial automation, and healthcare systems.

Second-quarter venture funding reportedly declined in North America, and some regions, such as Southeast Asia, may have a lag before they feel the full effects of macroeconomic slowdowns. However,Robotics Business Review tracked a total of 47 transactions in July 2020, close to the 49 transactions worth about $1.9 billion last month and the 49 transactions worth $1.1 billion in July 2019. Shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic have eased in some parts of the world, and investor interest in automation remained steady.

Here are the robotics companies that received funding last month, in millions of U.S. dollars, where amounts were publicly available.

The table below lists the five mergers and acquisitions from July 2020, in comparison with seven in June 2020 and eight a year ago. Amounts were not specified.

Autonomous vehicle technologies raised more than $533 million in July 2020. The largest single robotics transaction of the past month wasthe $500 million Series C round of Guangzhou, China-based Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co., also known as Xpeng Motors. The maker of electric and self-driving cars had raised $400 million in November 2019 and also announced a $100 million U.S. initial public offering (IPO) in August 2020.

Adam Neumann, founder of WeWork, led Series B investment of $19 million in GoTo Global. Formerly known as Car2Go, Tel Aviv, Israel-based GoTo Global offers ride-sharing services and is supporting autonomous vehicle research. Suzhou, China-based iMotion Automotive Technology Ltd. raised $14 million toward ramping up to mass production of automated driving systems.

Vehicle manufacturer Navistar International Corp. has partnered with TuSimple LLC, which has been developing self-driving trucks. It also invested an unspecified amount in San Diego-based TuSimple, but TechCrunch had noted that the company was looking for $250 million to scale up production.

Companies supplying robots for manufacturing and supply chain applications raised more than $325 million last month, as automotive demand began to rebound from pandemic shutdowns. Nanjing, China-based Estun Automation Co., which supplies industrial controls and welding robots, last month said it is raising $143 million.Wuhu, China-based Efort Intelligent Equipment Co. filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of $118 million with the Shanghai stock exchange for the STAR Market. Also in China, Standard Robots in Shenzhen raised Series B funding of $14.3 million for mobile robotic systems for logistics and inspection.

Also in July 2020, Dexterity Inc. in Redwood City, Calif., obtained $56.2 million in Series A funding as it emerged from stealth with its full stack for robotic picking and packing. Somerville, Mass.-based gripper maker RightHand Robotics Inc. secured $6 million in financing.

Guldford, U.K.-based collaborative robot maker Inovo Robotics received $1.89 million, while both Santa Clara, Calif.-based automation provider Flexiv Ltd. and Shenzhen-based machine vision firm Seizet obtained unspecified Series A funding.

Suppliers of robots and drones for agriculture, energy, and military uses raised close to $1 billion in July 2020. FLIR Systems Inc. announced a notes offering of $494 million. The Arlington, Va.-based company makes a variety of airborne, ground-based, and marine systems for the public safety, defense, and utility industries.

Andreessen Horowitz led $200 million in Series C funding for Irvine, Calif.-based Anduril Industries Inc., which provides surveillance technologies, including aerial drones. Redwood City, Calif.-based Skydio Inc., which makes consumer, enterprise, and public-sector drones, raised $100 million in Series C funding to accelerate product development and market growth.

Also in the national security space, UAS Drone Corp. acquired Duke Robotics Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for an undisclosed amount.

Ecoppia in Herzeliya, Israel, got investment of $40 million for its solar panel-cleaning robots. CMG has acquired shares in AMBPR, a startup in Saint-Gaudens, France, developing autonomous robots for infrastructure inspection and cleaning of ship hulls.

Tel Aviv, Israel-based Taranis-Visual Ltd., which analyzes drone data for agriculture, raised $30 million in Series C funding in July 2020. Petronas Ventures led an unspecified investment in agbotics developer Braintree Technologies Sdn. Bhd., its first in Malaysia. Denver-based Propellor Aero received $18 million in Series B funding for mine-mapping drones.

Beijing-based marine robotics maker Tianjin Deepinfar Ocean Technology closed a $17 million Series B+ round. Also in nautical systems, Huntington Ingalls Industries led the $14.9 million in Series B funding for Sea Machines Robotics Inc. in Boston. Ifremer acquired Paris-based Forssea Robotics for an unspecified sum.

Despite a decline in medical device deals, healthcare robotics companies reported more than $61 million in funding last month. Boston-based Activ Surgical Inc. raised $15 million in venture funding as it commercializes its ActivEdge surgical platform. TransEnterix Inc. in Research Triangle Park, N.C., offered $13 million in stock as it continues work on its vision-guided surgical system.

Yokneam, Israel-based exoskeleton maker ReWalk Robotics Ltd. raised $9 million in July 2020. Back to surgical robots, NDR Medical Technology Pte. Ltd. in Singapore received $5.76 million in Series A funding, and MastOR SAS in Paris raised $3.37 million for its laparoscopy assistance system.

Beijing-based orthopedic surgical robot firm Rosenbot Technology Co. raised unspecified Series A funding, while Medtronic PLC invested in Huake Precision Medical Technology Co., also known as Sinovation Medical. Medtronic also acquired Lyon, France-based spinal surgery company Medicrea and Menlo Park, Calif.-based medical device maker Intersect ENT.

Robotics components providers raised nearly $90 million in July 2020. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) sold $46.29 million in shares, and Zhaogun Electronics received $43.05 million in funding. Both companies make processors for artificial intelligence and are based in Shanghai.

LeddarTech acquired fellow automotive perception provider VayaVision in Tel Aviv for an unspecified amount. Similarly, Graf Industrial Corp. acquired lidar sensor maker Velodyne Lidar Inc. of Morgan Hill, Calif.

South Korean sensor company Adin Robotics obtained seed funding, and New York-based emotion chip company Emoshape Inc. received unspecified funding.

Baidu Ventures led Series A+ funding for Lightelligence, which is working on optical chips and has offices in Shanghai and Boston. Beijing-based radar firm Qinglei Technology reportedly closed multimillion-yuan angel funding in July 2020.

On the software side, InOrbit Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., said it raised seed funding of $2.6 million. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company provides a cloud-based robot fleet-management platform.

In addition, Guangzhou, China-based Chenjing Technology raised angel funding for its spatial intelligence software. Santa Monica, Calif.-based mvmtAI raised pre-seed funding as it develops machine vision technology.

Service robots, from automated wait staff to cleaning robots, raised about $22 million in July 2020. Shenzhen-based indoor delivery robot maker Pudu Technology Inc. closed a Series B round of $15 million. London-based greeter robot firm BotsAndUs raised $5.96 million in Series A funding and partnered with Heathrow Airport and British Airways.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has increased interest in cleaning and disinfection robots. New York-based Somatic obtained $125,000 in seed funding for its bathroom-cleaning robots, and Swiss floor-scrubbing robot maker Kemaro AG raised unspecified Series A funding for European expansion.

Editors note:What defines robotics investments? The answer to this simple question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.

Investors and investingInvestment should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowd-sourced funding are excluded.

Robotics and intelligent systems companiesRobotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of hard automation are not.

Companies that are robotic in name only, or use the term robot to describe products and services that that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes software robots and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.

VerificationFunding information is collected from a number of public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, industry analysts, and association and industry publications, including PitchBook and Tracxn. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded.

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July 2020 Robotics Transactions Remain Steady Year Over Year - Robotics Business Review

The Global Robotics Technology Market report draws precise insights by examining the latest and prospective industry trends and helping readers recognize the products and services that are boosting revenue growth and profitability. The study performs a detailed analysis of all the significant factors, including drivers, constraints, threats, challenges, prospects, and industry-specific trends, impacting the market on a global and regional scale. Additionally, the report cites worldwide market scenario along with competitive landscape of leading participants.

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Leading Players in the Robotics Technology Market: ABB Ltd, Denso Corporation, Fanuc Corporation, Kawasaki Robotics (Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.), KUKA AG, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, OMRON Corporation, Seiko Epson Corporation, Stubli International AG, Yaskawa Electric Corporation

The Robotics Technology market analysis is intended to provide all participants and vendors with pertinent specifics about growth aspects, roadblocks, threats, and lucrative business opportunities that the market is anticipated to reveal in the coming years. This intelligence study also encompasses the revenue share, market size, market potential, and rate of consumption to draw insights pertaining to the rivalry to gain control of a large portion of the market share.

Competitive landscape:

The Robotics Technology Industry is extremely competitive and consolidated because of the existence of several established companies that are adopting different marketing strategies to increase their market share. The vendors engaged in the sector are outlined based on their geographic reach, financial performance, strategic moves, and product portfolio. The vendors are gradually widening their strategic moves, along with customer interaction.

Robotics Technology Market Segmented by Region/Country: US, Europe, China, Japan, Middle East & Africa, India, Central & South America

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ROBOTICS TECHNOLOGY MARKET INSIGHTS BY GROWTH, EMERGING TRENDS AND FORECAST BY 2027 The Daily Chronicle - The Daily Chronicle

The nuclear site in the north of Scotland, which was the centre of the UKs research into fast reactor technology in the last century, is being cleaned up and taken apart. The most contaminated areas of the site are found in the Fuel Cycle Area (FCA) facilities, which examined and reprocessed spent nuclear fuel. The nature of the facilities means that the most contaminated areas are generally also the most inaccessible.

The site is collaborating with the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear (RAIN) Hub, a consortium of universities led by the University of Manchester, to explore ways to overcome some of these challenges.

A group of scientists from RAIN carried out trials earlier this year in the FCA laboratories of a small remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with sensors, cameras and a manipulator arm, which provided useful information.

Jason Simpson, project manager for the decommissioning of the laboratories, said:

The legacy of the operations in our labs is that we have areas of contamination that are very radioactive and difficult to access using our normal procedures. These decommissioning challenges could be addressed using robotics and we are pleased to be working with the RAIN Hub to find solutions.

A survey of the under-floor drains in the laboratories is planned for later in the year.

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Dounreay explores decommissioning with robotics experts - GOV.UK - GOV.UK

The T5 pick-and-place delta robot from Gerhard Schubert GmbH features a fifth axis that allows for high performance in small spaces.

In 2019, a business intelligence report, Robotics, Innovation 2 Implementation, from PMMI, the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, proclaimed, Robotics is no longer just a tool, it is a force in the industry driving a revolution of change in manufacturing. This change has become increasingly vital for packagers, who are facing massive shifts in consumer buying behavior and changing market conditionschanges that in some cases have rapidly accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Packagers grappling with mass customization, a shortage of labor (particularly skilled labor), more rigorous food safety standards, greater competition, and the quickening pace of e-commerce, are turning to robots to address these challenges. And robotics suppliers are responding, with innovations in hygienic features, vision systems, and ease of programming, as well as more palatable price points and greater flexibility.

While innovations overlap in terms of robot types, applications, and features, most of the drivers remain the same: less reliance on manual operations; greater productivity, efficiency, and flexibility; and reduced costs.

See all articles contained in Packaging Worlds 2020 Robotics Special Report:

Case Packer for Croutons Saves Dough on Corrugated

Specialty food products manufacturer installs a robotic case packer for croutons that can keep pace with the rest of the packaging line, while saving costs on shelf-ready packaging, as well.

Mass Customization Demands Flexibility

A growing omnichannel environment requires that CPGs have the flexibility to produce a range of package sizes and styles. Automation provides that capability.

Vision for the Future

New vision systems for robotics, including 2D and 3D machine vision, enable broader packaging applications.

Big Data is the New Currency

New software systems for robotics collect and analyze data to increase OEE, protect against cyberattacks, and predict failures.

Food-Safe Solutions Emerge

New opportunities for the direct and indirect handling of foods emerge as manufacturers begin developing robots for handling unpacked goods.

Addressing Labor Shortages can Help Feed the World

Robot manufacturer develops a system to alleviate the lack of labor in the nut industry that can sort nuts at the final stage of the conditioning process.

Cobots Continue to Advance

According to a PMMI robot report, cobots accounted for about 3% of all robot sales in North America in 2017; by 2025, that number is expected to increase to 34%.

E-Commerce Requires new Solutions

New robot technology addresses the specific needs of e-commerce packaging, including mixed pallet loads, labor challenges, and the use of a range of secondary packaging formats.

Vision Enables Tube Picking/Placing at 160/min

A new SCARA robotic cell developed for the collation of cosmetic tubes uses vision software and specially designed end-of-arm tooling.

Cobot-Placed Top Sheets Protect Frozen Foods

The installation of 12 robotic palletizers for frozen food products necessitates the addition of two cobot cap-sheet placers to keep the cases free from dust.

Making Sense of ANSI R15.06 and ANSI B155.1

To determine the right standards approach for your organization, its helpful to understand how standards are structured, which responsibilities and requirements are associated with the standards, and ISO restrictions.

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Special Report: Robots Drive the Manufacturing Revolution - Automation World

Dexterity announced the availability of its full-stack, hardware-agnostic robotic systems. Dexterity robots allow customers to unlock the maximum value of their workforce. Its robots automate repetitive pick-pack tasks and can handle complex manipulations in unpredictable environments, allowing warehouse employees to focus on higher-level cognitive work. The robots utilize artificial intelligence, advanced control theory, computer vision, and the sense of touch to adapt quickly, making them safe to work alongside humans. Initial customers include Kawasaki Heavy Industries, a global food manufacturer and distributor, and a worldwide package delivery provider.

Dexterity simplifies automation deployments by managing the entire process for customers, from end-to-end system design and engineering to deployments with operational guarantees. Unlike existing robotics providers, Dexterity robots are adaptable, mobile and collaborative. They are presently picking more than 200 unique items in production with 99.5% accuracy, and reliably pick a wide variety of novel objects including plastic bags, glass, perishables, and low-profile items.

Transcending other systems in the market, Dexterity robots can move, pack items using the sense of touch, and work collaboratively with one another. For instance, two robots can collaborate to pick trays or crates, and even collaboratively move them across the work-area if required. Finally, the robots operate safely in concert with humans and maximize human productivity.

While robots are the backbone of manufacturing, they have historically lacked the ability to adapt and operate in dynamic environments like warehouses, said Dexterity founder and CEO Samir Menon. Dexteritys intelligent robots constantly adapt to warehouse operations and do the tedious and strenuous tasks, which maximizes productivity by enabling humans to focus on meaningful work.

Founded in 2017, Dexteritys technical approach has Menons Ph.D. thesis in Robotics from Stanford University at heart. Menon worked on a control theory framework to describe how the human brain controls and coordinates the body, which serves as a model to distill human skill into mathematical programs that control robots in a graceful human-like manner.

Dexterity is exiting stealth with deep customer relationships, and a fleet of intelligent and collaborative robots in production. In todays world, with a pandemic raging, Dexterity is grateful to have an opportunity to serve the community as an essential business that, among other things, has shipped more than half a million units of packaged food.

To date, Dexterity has raised $56.2 million, including venture investments and debt from Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Obvious Ventures, Pacific West Bank, B37 Ventures, Presidio (Sumitomo) Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Stanford StartX.

Technically, Dexteritys robotic solution can do what their predecessors could not. Their robots ability to learn as it picks, packs, and places novel objects is unsurpassed, said Wen Hsieh, partner at Kleiner Perkins. Dexterity also stands out because of their high-touch approach with customers, which includes gaining a deep understanding of customers needs, and then offering a Robots-as-a-Service offering. This unique pricing model allows Dexterity to deploy quickly and effectively, which results in an immediate performance and financial impact on customers warehouse operations.

Dexterity is one of the very few companies in the world which has almost an unlimited market opportunity," said Raviraj Jain, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. "When I first met Samir, I immediately knew he had the technical chops, the drive, and the vision to do something exceptional. In the short 2.5 years, Samir has assembled an exceptional team of some of the best and the brightest in robotics, built a strong tech stack that is generalizable, and delivered significant customer value. We're excited to have partnered with Dexterity from day one and look forward to an exciting journey ahead.

Dexterity develops its robots with a full-stack approach, combining both software and hardware. To support high performance and adaptability with safe human-robot interaction, its robots have capabilities like touch perception, computer vision, force control, and contextual awareness.

Dexterity partners closely with customers to design systems and controls that match their individual needs and products, performing tasks such as fulfillment, kitting, sortation, singulation, palletization, and depalletization. Its platform is highly modular - rather than being coded to perform one specific task, robots can be deployed anywhere on any warehouse use case, with grippers or suction cups to suit objects being handled, 3D camera systems to track items, and general machine learning models trained to identify arbitrary unknown objects. By working with Dexterity robots, operators have become 47% more productive, and that improvement is growing over time as the robots learn and are more tightly integrate into local operations. Dexterity robots can also work safely alongside or independently of humans and have the ability to comply and respond to human movement and interference.

Dexteritys artificial intelligence, computer vision, and stacking design technology was what really stood out to us. Samir provides a clear vision for the future of our robotic applications and gives us confidence that with this partnership, we can easily deploy our robots in a variety of ways, said Toshihiko M., Manager, Robotics Business Center, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.

The warehousing industry urgently needs automation to do the tedious, laborious, and unsafe tasks that make it difficult to recruit and retain staff. While supply chains continue to expand at a rapid pace driven by growth in e-commerce, interest in jobs that are repetitive and even dangerous continues to decline. This trend has been further complicated by COVID-19 -- increased volume, an exacerbated labor shortage due to health concerns, and the inability to guarantee safety for workers without heavily disrupting operations has amplified the need for automation.

Robots have been widely used in manufacturing, but they traditionally lack intelligence so they could only be deployed for precise pre-programmed tasks think welding in auto manufacturing where the welds are in the same place for every car. Dexterity enables human-like intelligence and dexterity to unlock a larger set of tasks in supply chain environments that have been previously unsolved by traditional robotics solutions.

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Dexterity Inc. Introduces Intelligent Robots for Warehouse Automation that Pick, Move, Pack and Collaborate - Supply and Demand Chain Executive

As labor shortages hang over the construction industry, builders and contractors ponder how they might use the latest technologies to replace human functions. Five years ago, around 20% of builders reported they had begun to tinker with technologies like drones and 3D printers. Since then, robots have surfaced doing everything from installing studs, drywall and tile to laying bricks at a rate of 1,000 per hour. Now, engineers at Carnegie Mellon University are taking aim at a new purpose for robotics: installing windows. In July, the university announced that in collaboration with YKK AP Inc. and under the leadership of Kenji Shimada, the Theodore Ahrens Professor of Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, a team of experts in its Computational Engineering and Robotics Laboratory are working on the project.

Shimada, whose research centers on computer modeling and simulation for product design, analysis and manufacturing, says his teams goals include creating a robot that can install windows, more efficiently than any human could. At the same time, he admits that the undertaking, is a pretty difficult task, because the window has to be perfectly vertical and aligned to the dimension described in the architectural drawing. Even for expert installers the process, might take 15 or 20 minutes to just put one window in the right position and orientation, Shimada says. Nonetheless, his group is designing and building a robot with the goal of automating and cutting the task down to five minutes.

Regarding the question for whether or not robots will ever be capable of fully replacing human labor for window installation, Shimada suggests, In parts of the world, jobs in window installation are understated and it is a dangerous job by nature. Many people, especially young people, are not interested in working in the dangerous fields of construction, and this robot allows for more efficiency and safety in the industry. At the same time, while the momentum of robotics development has taken decades to reach fenestration, there are indications that the construction industries are heading toward such options.

For as much as 60 years now, robotic technologies have been utilized in manufacturing and by 1990 studies began pondering the feasibility for their use on construction sites. Five years ago, experts pointed to the falling cost for robotics as an inevitable sign that the technology would grow more prevalent is constructionsome suggesting that by 2025 builders would cash in on 16% savings on labor costs, by replacing human employees with robots. In a report published last year by Omdia | Tractica, the research firm estimated that more than 7,000 robot assistants, infrastructure robots, structure robots and finishing robots will be deployed for construction by 2025.

Regarding how soon Shimada and his team might be able to deliver on a window-installing robot is unclear, but the labs other projects indicate the process could be incremental. In addition to robotics, his team is also collaborating with YKK AP on a 3D sensor designed to make measuring and scaling for windows easier by using high-end laser scanners. When aimed at a wall, scanners will produce millions of measurable pointsa tool that might make some professional installers set aside their tape measures.

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Carnegie Mellon Teams Up With YKK AP to Develop Window-Installing Robots - DWM Magazine

If we cast our minds back to 2019, pre-coronavirus, consumers had the choice to shop across multiple channels including physical stores, social media, online marketplaces, pop-up stores, online, or in apps to mention but a few the list of options was extensive.

As options for buying goods disappeared during lockdown, not only did eCommerce boom, the creative use of technology - such as robots - has also come to the fore and were increasingly seeing more robots being deployed into the wider supply chain network, whereas previously they may have been limited to the warehouse or distribution centre environments.

Just look at the transformation of last mile delivery recently, allowing supermarkets to get orders to consumers without compromising the health or safety of either their staff or customers.

The question is: as robotics and automation moves beyond warehouses and distribution centres (DCs) as part of more distributed supply chain networks, are brands ready to embrace these developments and how can they best navigate these technology challenges?

Robotics in the supply chain

The use of robotics and automation technology in warehouses or DCs certainly isnt new. Retailers across the world have been perfecting the balance of man (and woman) and machine for some time to boost efficiencies, reduce errors and make this particular part of the supply chain seamless.

In fact, the use of robotics has grown exponentially over time, from the first debut of this technology in the automobile plant industry. Today, a wide range of laboratories, factories, hospitals, energy plants, warehouses and other industries are reliant on automation and robotics.

Now, as warehouses and DCs still battle the changes bought by the pandemic, they need to instil flexibility and scalability and reduce their dependence on unreliable or temporary labour pools to meet their operational requirements. Implementing automation and robotics is the perfect way to do this.

With the use of robotics and automated processes within DCs and warehouses, retailers can process eCommerce orders far more swiftly and safely, rather than relying purely on manual pickers. By strategically implementing robotics and automation, supply chains can work around the clock without having to delay deliveries, while still delivering on promises made to customers.

However, it is important to note that whilst robotics and automation provide an abundance of benefits, this must be complemented with human employees to perform certain tasks that robots are simply not yet able to do. Quite simply, man (and woman) and machine must work in harmony.

Robotics beyond the warehouse

Move further along the supply chain to delivery and the use of robotics is quite different, with last mile delivery having been transformed in the last five years.

Understanding the benefits of robotics and automation technology within the warehouse, many retailers are now starting to consider how this technology can be used both within their stores and beyond. In particular, robots have been used in recent months as a completely contactless-free delivery method to ensure local communities and vulnerable people are still able to get goods delivered to their door.

Certainly, at the moment, eliminating human employees and focusing on machines in some areas, is one way to keep consumers and employees safe and it has given retailers a vision of what the future of delivery might look like. But this is not a sustainable method for retailers across the entire supply chain and retailers must recognise that a human touch is still required.

Robotics in the future

Covid-19 has accelerated questions around the use of automation and robotics and has highlighted how it is applicable to existing businesses models, with much success in the grocery sector and last-mile delivery. As some parts of the UK are able to see normality creeping back in, it will be interesting to see what other sectors, and which other parts of the supply chain, adopt further robotics and automation technology.

However, as technology becomes more sophisticated and consumer habits and business practices transform, only time will tell how important a role robotics and automation will come to play in warehouses and supply chains of the future.

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From warehouse to pavement, the robots are coming - Essential Retail