Does your company currently use, or are you considering automated guide vehicles and/or robotics technologies for material handling applications?
Current use and anticipated interest in robotics held fairly steady, which could be considered a victory for the category given the smaller size of many companies in the response base, as well as the unusual pandemic conditions of 2020 including tighter controls on outside visitors as a health precaution.
Current reported use of robotics was at 7% this year, down 2% from last year’s response, though 20% this year are considering or evaluating robotics for materials handling applications—1% higher than those answering that way last year. Use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) held steady, with 6% currently using and 14% considering/evaluating, which are the same percentages as in 2020.
The survey also asked about applications for robotics that respondents are using or considering. In fact, these are becoming a bit more diverse, though picking remains a top use case. For 2021, pick and place was the top use case for robotics (54%) followed by “order fulfillment, part to picker” and “order fulfillment, picker to part,” as well as palletizing. All three come in at 38%. The palletizing role, however, has remained fairly steady in recent years, whereas use and interest in using robotics for picking has grown more in recent years.
The survey also asked about AGV use and applications. This year, higher growth uses include storage, for which 47% are using or considering AGVs, compared to 33% last year, and bin picking, which rose from 11% last year to 32% this year.
