Robotics: A title wave is coming

Look for it and you will see the term "robot" in the news more than ever before. 

I believe we are at the elbow of major growth curve in the robot industry.  It is becoming a sizable industry because it starting not only to be used for high tech and cool research applications but becuase it will soon help cross industry businesses to be more profitable, like IT did 20 years ago.  

I believe over the next years and as technologies will continue to develop at a rapid rate, the use of automated and highly “intelligent” machines will become more and more critical for many types of businesses, helping enterprises to grow better and faster.

I truly believe robotics is the natural step after IT, where outputs change our way of living, our way of interacting with machines, companies’ way to do business and where inputs are the “real” world.  

Here are some other trends that support my thoughts..

• —Advancement of IT (Cloud computing, big data, sensors, mobility, software, 3D technology, battery technology) enable more cost effective, productive robots. 
• —Increased government support (i.e Obama invested in “robotics fund” and robotics is part of the candidates debate) 
• —Revival of Auto industry: the poster child for automation. 
• —Shift from robots doing “niche” tasks to becoming able to make own adoptable decisions. 
• —Shift from mass production to batch processing to now “one” processing due to the increased “demand” of customer and competition 
• —Despite the global economy blur, manufacturing industry is doing well. 
• —Shift from “dumb” manufacturing (i.e. band aid production) to “smart” manufacturing. (i.e. surgical robotics which requires a new generation of automotive techniques, tools and staff) 
• —Jobs are moving back on shore but cost of labor remains high 
• —Manufacturers are looking to participate in the information revolution

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.  But my thinking is withinin 5 years we will see robotics in most enterprises, 10 years in most homes, and 15 years out in society.

What do you think?