The 4th Industrial Revolution is upon us and one of the hottest topics around are robotics and artificial intrelligence. (A.I.)
Rosey on The Jetsons has become a realistic dystopia in this modern age. Innovations in machine learning as well as A.I. are proving that robots may become a big part of business and the world in general.
Robots are already taking over many human jobs such as factory workers and check-out cashiers. They have become an integral part of society and are expected to get even bigger. According to Research and Markets, global Industrial Robotics market accounted for $35.59 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $97.41 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 11.8% during the forecast period.
This year big box retailer Walmart announced that it is adding almost 4,000 robots to its stores and facilities. The investment will allow human workers to shift to other tasks that are harder to automate according to the company.
“Auto-C provides a cleaner shopping experience for our customers, and it frees up our associates to serve them better,” said Walmart in a blog post. “We’re going big,” the blog post also read.
Social media giant Facebook is also doing robotics research and a recent blog post this month from the company reads, “Robotics provides important opportunities for advancing artificial intelligence, because teaching machines to learn on their own in the physical world will help us develop more capable and flexible AI systems in other scenarios as well.”
The post continues, “Working with a variety of robots — including walking hexapods, articulated arms, and robotic hands fitted with tactile sensors — Facebook AI researchers are exploring new techniques to push the boundaries of what artificial intelligence can accomplish.”
The human-like robot, Digit, which is integrated with Ford’s autonomous vehicles is already able to walk up stairs to deliver packages to front doors. According to IDC, overall spending on robotics and drones will total US$115.7 billion this year, which represents an increase of 17.6 percent from 2018.
By 2022, IDC projects that yearly sales numbers will reach US$210.3 billion, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.2 percent over that time period.
IDC also says that the majority of its 2019 sales figure will be made through robotics sales, with that number projected to reach US$103.4 billion.
Statista has also forecast that revenue generated from the robotics market globally, both industrial and non-industrial, will reach $237.28 billion in 2022. This is up from about $40 billion in 2017.
With robotics gaining in popularity, many traders are wondering how to cash in on the trend on Wall Street. Several robotics stocks on the North American exchanges are offering traders a chance to jump into the space. They include:
Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX), an industrial automation play that provides machine-vision products that obtain and analyze visual information in order to automate tasks where vision is needed.
iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT), a consumer robot company that designs and builds robots. Its portfolio includes concepts in mapping, navigation, mobility and artificial intelligence. It is also famously known for creating the Roomba, which is a floor-vacuuming robot.
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), a medical technology giant that acquired Mazor Robotics, a medical device company that develops computerized and imaging-based systems in the spine surgery field.
