Drivers and obstacles The human-robot collaboration technology is a new frontier to both producers and adopters. Advances in sensors, hydraulics, mobility, machine vision, artificial intelligence, and big data are building collaborative robots intelligent and autonomous co- workers a reality. Consumers' appetite for customised, new, and innovative or continuously improved products requires flexible production to cope with rapidly changing consumer preferences. We are entering the era of mass-personalisation, with high mix and low volume production. Given their limited size, SMEs must produce in small quantities and require flexibility in their manufacturing processes. Collaborative robots are inherently flexible and suitable for such small-scale, adaptable production. Cost factors associated with these cobots however requires attention from industry players (on matters such as financing and services) and government alike (on incentives such as subsidy and taxes). Policymakers have long recognised the role of manufacturing in wealth and job creation. However, serious considerations and decisive actions must be taken to address other than matters and incentives mentioned above notably safety and risk management, financing product development and commercialisation, market entry, and talent development. Collaborative robotics demand full commitment to deliver its full potential. The first difficulty lies in convincing respective industry players of its benefits which are more complex to calculate and to sell. The return on investment is not easy to quantify as it includes qualitative elements such as involving the work environment. SMEs that received public support for launching their innovative product are tied to a maximizing profit to their shareholdersmaxim. Applying untestedpractices constitute business risks where now are unmitigated. Unless institutions of some coordinated measures from private and public sectors, adoption at a desirable rate in the commercial space will be limited. As far as the customers are concern, if all these initiatives are reflected in a better product, service, and price, convincing them would be the easiest of them all.
ROBOTIC HANDS Despite improvements in dexterity a robotic hand that can manipulate any object remains elusive. The hand that is multi-tooled to handle both heavy, durable items and light, soft goods. Currently robotic hands are not suited for multipurpose use. While far from reaching human-level dexterity, future cobots will have end effectors and clever tooling that can handle anything intelligently WAREHOUSE AND E-COMMERCE The e-commerce boom has created demand for collaborative robotics in the warehouse. Companies are working with autonomous guided vehicles or AGVs for material transport and item picking. AGV technology is getting a facelift with the advent of better autonomy and vision systems for e-commerce and manufacturing operations such as palletising, forklifting, material transport and mobile picking robots in warehouse environments. Another major segment within e-commerce are picking and sorting. As consumers buy more robots are needed to pick and pack boxes of mixed items. AGRICULTURE The labour shortage in agriculture is ripe for robotic augmentation. Companies are automating farming equipment from self-driving tractors to specialised robotic arm pickers. Picking is difficult for robots to do without crushing the produce. The other focus is on material handling AGVs for agriculture, autonomous cow milking, harvesting, and seeding UGV. RESTAURANTS & FOOD SERVICE Food service is experiencing high turnover and restaurants are investing in robots to handle digital ordering for delivery service. Cobot arms are automated for cooking processes such as burger-flipping and on the grill line. An automatic burger restaurant uses 20 computers, 350 sensors, and 50 actuator mechanisms to deliver a burger in 5 minutes. On the drinks side, AI-powered mixologists provide personalised cocktails to diners.
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Malaysian Technology Strategic Outlook 2019/2020 Intergration of High Technology
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