In the midst of Pandemic, Robotics and Embedded Systems have been the most hyped topics in today’s IT world with various advancements that will not only shape a strong market for Robotics and Embedded technology industry but more importantly, it will put up a strong fight against COVID-19.
If we look at the embedded systems market, ResearchAndMarkets has estimated that the global embedded system market is projected to reach USD 116.2 Billion by 2025 from USD 86.5 Billion in 2020, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.1 percent from 2020 to 2025.
Amongst various segments of embedded systems, one that is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period is field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA). While the reason is its simple design cycles and also its ability to reconfigure systems based on a specific requirement of applications has attributed to its phenomenal growth.
Also, the middleware segment is expected to grow at a very steady rate during the forecast period (2020-2025). While the medium-scale embedded systems’ segment was accounted for the largest size when it comes to the embedded systems last year (2019). Furthermore, the real-time embedded systems and the automotive segment will also see high growth during the aforementioned forecast period.
Collaboration of Robots and Humans in the fight against COVID-19
A study published in the Science Robotics sees that the robots have the potential to be deployed for delivering medications and food, disinfection, assisting border controls, measuring vital signs, to name a few. Hence with coronavirus spreading at an alarming rate, the potential roles of robotics are becoming more vital.
The study further highlighted, “For disease prevention, robot-controlled non contact ultraviolet (UV) surface disinfection is being used because COVID-19 spreads not only from person to person via close contact respiratory droplet transfer but also via contaminated surfaces.”
Therefore, the robotics and embedded systems will be an utmost necessity in today’s competitive technology-driven world, and if businesses won’t keep up to date with the advancements on the latest robotics trends, one cannot stay relevant to the disruptions that are currently going on in the market place all over the world, today.
Especially during these times of Pandemic, Robotics and Embedded systems have been enabling businesses to automate repetitive processes that would otherwise have to be done manually, hence freeing up remote-working manpower and ensuring business continuity in the era of COVID-19. Robotics integrated into various other technologies such as IoT, wearable devices, among others has been contributing significantly to ease our life and bring in efficiency and productivity. Let’s say for example in Hospitals, robots are being deployed to pick up items, move objects, open drawers, and also open and closing doors when disinfecting rooms. These future-forward devices have been the most significant development which has been helping humans to fight against COVID-19.
According to Fergal Glynn, VP of Marketing at 6 River Systems, “Robots will become more public facing. Implementation of robots in behind-the-scenes locations like warehouses and dark stores have exploded over the past several years, but they are just beginning to gain traction in public settings. We predict large retailers and other businesses will continue to introduce more public-facing robots that can assist customers with finding products, connect them to staff, help store associates with buy-online, pick-up-in-store orders, and alert staff of necessary cleanups. These robots will not replace the store staff, but rather will supplement the staff’s work and allow employees to be more efficient.”
Meanwhile, the researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore has designed and developed a semi-autonomous robot that can disinfect large surface areas which will further support Singapore’s fight against COVID-19. This semi-autonomous robot – XDBOT – has a 6-axis robotic arms which work similarly to human arms can reach to every location that other robots can’t. Hence, all the autonomous virus-killing robots have been very promising in the fight against the coronavirus.
These robots have been very promising when it comes to the healthcare segment where physical interaction with patients is being looked upon with the help of Robots. Enabling a more effective healthcare delivery, especially for the patients in critical or isolation care, Robots have been significantly aiding healthcare staff in delivering proper treatment. Robots can aid healthcare staff in treating hospitalized patients by enabling more effective healthcare delivery, particularly for those patients in isolation or critical care.
