Mobile Robots and Autonomous Vehicles 177 0 Kommentare IDTechEx Analysts Discuss How Coronavirus Pushes Logistic Automation up the Agenda

BOSTON, March 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Last week Amazon announced that it planned on hiring 100,000 extra workers to meet the rise in demand for online shopping created by Coronavirus-caused shutdowns and social distancing. On 19 March 2020, unions said workers were demanding that Amazon takes their lives seriously. The night before a facility in Queens, NY, had been closed for deep cleaning after an employee tested positive for the virus. There are reports that some Amazon warehouse workers in Italy and Spain have tested positive. In France, several hundred Amazon workers protested to demand better measures to protect their safety. In Italy, there have been calls for a strike. This and similar developments once again bring into focus the motivation, and at times the imperative, to increase automation in the logistics and delivery chain.

1. An uncomprehensive list of firms whose products are shown in the panel: Amazon, Geek Plus, GreyOrange, Flashhold (Quicktron), HIK Vision, Scallog, Eiratech, Hitachi, SeeGrid, Baylo, Vena Technologies, Kollmorgen, HIK Vision, AutoGuide (Teredyne), RoboCV, Knapp, Omron Adept Mobile Robotics, Mobile Industrial Robots (Teredyne), Locus Robotics, Canvas Technologies (Amazon), 6 River (Shopify), Otto Motors, Fetch Robotics. For more information, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Mobile

IDTechEx have been examining the technological and commercial trends in this field for several years. Their report "Mobile Robots, Autonomous Vehicles, and Drones in Logistics, Warehousing, and Delivery 2020-2040" focuses on automation of movement in every step of the logistics and delivery chain ranging from a warehouse or a factory to the delivery of goods to the final customer destination. This landscape – and therefore, the scope of the report – includes the following:

1. Automated guide carts and vehicles
2. Autonomous mobile industry vehicles (forklifts, tugs, etc.)
3. Goods-to-person automated carts/robots
4. Collaborative autonomous mobile robots
5. Mobile picking robot (regular- and irregular-shaped items)
6. Autonomous trucks (level 4 and 5)
7. Delivery vans and pods (level 4 and 5)
8. Last-mile side-walk delivery robots
9. Delivery drones

The emerging technology research firm finds that this market – in total – will reach $81 and $290 billion in 2030 and 2040, respectively. This is a colossal transfer of value from wage expenses to a combination of capital investments and service subscription to autonomous robots of various types. This staggering headline is, of course, very large, and hides the key individual trends characterizing each technology and use case. In the remainder of this article, IDTechEx analysts seek to highlight the key trends.