We recently asked Josh Inman, vice president of marketing at Kollmorgen and a speaker at RoboBusiness 2017, to share his thoughts about the robotics and automation industry, as well as his session at RoboBusiness. Inman highlighted the Chinese cobot market, with its extremely rapid growth as one of the top opportunities right now in the global robotics market.
At RoboBusiness, Inman will be speaking in the session “Building a Better Robot: Using Best-in-Class Controls and Components.”
What got you interested in robotics and artificial intelligence, and how is it connected to what you’re now doing?
The business opportunity to apply Kollmorgen’s well known motion pedigree to the exploding collaborative robotics market. As we leverage our expertise to fill the white space in terms of bridging customers’ knowledge gaps we’re finding that our pedigree has very strong value in the market.
Which emerging technology or application excites you the most?
The here and now opportunity in the Chinese cobot market. The market is growing at 50+% CAGR and demanding help from experts in the space. Additionally the growth of smart warehousing and smart factories as a result of e-commerce continues to provide great opportunities to our AGV business.
What are the biggest barriers to continued growth of the autonomous systems market and the Chinese cobot market?
Customers currently can’t scale fast enough. To scale means more projects for customers and today more projects means more people. Implementation of more autonomous systems is necessary for the efficiency gains but partners like Kollmorgen have to help provide solutions that improve Ease of Use which in turn improves speed of design and commissioning.
Where do you expect robotics and AI use to grow the most in the next five years, and why?
Material handling/warehousing/logistics because as mobile robots continue to mature and grow they’ll become more and more intelligent to become more effective in these mobile applications. Anytime you have multiple automated vehicles running around in the same space, along with racks and other structures, intelligence has to be baked in.
[note style=”success” show_icon=”true”]More on Featured RoboBusiness Speakers:
- Vecna’s Daniel Theobald Discusses Robotics Expectations, RoboBusiness 2017
- Pitchfire 2017 Gives Robotics Startups Access to Investors at RoboBusiness
- Disney Executive Imagineer to Deliver RoboBusiness Opening Keynote
- NIST Scientist Talks AI, IoT, and the Human Draw of Speaking at RoboBusiness
- RoboBusiness Speaker Georg Stieler Discusses Industrial Automation, Global Robotics Industry
- Geopolitical Expert, Author Abishur Prakash Looks to the Future of Robotics
- Fetch Robotics CEO Melonee Wise to Close RoboBusiness 2017
What do you think your session offers to the robotics developer and end-user community?
An understanding of the robotics buying behavior changes over time and what options are available to meet their needs from a supplier with a strong history in the space and a commitment to continue to lead the way in meeting the market’s needs.
What are you most looking forward to about being at RoboBusiness?
The opportunity to meet more people in the space to see what they’re seeing short term and long term to better understand how Kollmorgen can better serve customers in the space. We’re always looking for ways to get better.
