Today
From vacuum cleaners to human-sounding AI assistants that answer our calls, automation has been in our lives for some time - and is here to stay. Mobile robots are well established in our factory floors and indoor warehouse logistics operations. Soon, they will step off the factory floor and become fixtures of daily life. Mobile robots already act as library guides, mall security and hotel room service providers, and the number of novel use cases will continue to increase.

What will change
In the future, many of our routine tasks will be handled by autonomous robotic servants. Real-time high resolution telepresence through 5G on mobile robots will enable people to participate in society, even if they aren’t able to move by themselves. The same technology will allow for remote servicing of technical equipment in new, intelligent buildings, and cities in general. Social capabilities will give character to otherwise outlandish machines, attracting people to engage in natural interactions with them.

Emerging technologies
As technology & computing power becomes cheaper, smaller and available for all, mobile robots will become smarter and more capable of performing a variety of functions. They will be capable of autonomously equipping and using different modules that will greatly increase the number for functions they will be able to perform. Technologies such as NLP will help people empathise with these machines, boosting adoption and opening up new interaction opportunities.

Opportunities worth taking
Mobile robotics will largely shoulder humanity’s load of repetitive, non value-adding tasks, freeing us to focus on creating new services and product innovations. Multi-function, modular mobile robots will deliver vastly improved ROI, as a single robot served by an ecosystem of module vendors will serve multiple functions. This is a hugely exciting opportunity for companies to build their emerging tech expertise and innovate across the whole value and supply chain.