The distribute of COVID-19 led to a surge in orders for manufacturing facility robots

Orders for robots soared in North The united states at yr-finish as brands tried to grapple with the growing toll of COVID-19 and prevent placing workforce at hazard.

Firms purchased 9,972 robots in the fourth quarter, up 64% from a yr before. That lifted the yearly whole to 31,044 models, up 3.5%, the Association for Advancing Automation noted Thursday. And for the initial time, automakers didn’t lead demand.

“The pandemic has established a feeling of urgency for production corporations to devote in automation like never prior to,” said Mike Cicco, chief executive officer of the Americas device of Fanuc, a Japanese robotic maker.

The have to have for automation became clear outside the auto marketplace as workforces have been hobbled by coronavirus infections, building it hard to preserve up with demand from customers. Profits rose in some industries as home revenue that would have been expended on eating places and amusement went in its place to consumer products. Robot orders in foods and buyer goods, everyday living sciences, and plastics and rubber industries all rose a lot more than 50% final yr.

Technological advances — this kind of as enhanced eyesight, mobility and end-of-arm resources for grabbing objects — have expanded the uses for automation. Equipment finding out, in the meantime, has made it considerably a lot easier to application robots for advanced duties that could not be finished just before, such as getting ready foodstuff.

It was not extended ago that nearly all robots have been fenced in to retain human beings protected. Now, with sensors that stop the equipment when individuals approach, additional robots are doing work alongside workers.

“The automation competence stage in general marketplace has grown, and that matured into better demand,” stated John Bubnikovich, chief regional officer for North The us at Germany’s Kuka.

Most of past year’s get in orders arrived in the 2nd fifty percent. In the very first, North American robotic orders dropped 18% as organizations struggled to comprehend the impact of the lockdowns. Then desire accelerated, with the last three months of the year registering the next strongest quarter at any time, behind the fourth quarter of 2016.

FedEx in March set up four robots in a pilot plan at its Convey unit in Memphis, Tennessee, to choose smaller offers of diverse measurements and shapes from a bin and place them on a conveyor for sorting.

With the robots dealing with as several as 1,300 deals an hour, FedEx employees are freed up to do much more elaborate function, this kind of as correcting addresses and dealing with delays, Aaron Prather, senior complex adviser at FedEx Specific, claimed in an October presentation. FedEx programs to incorporate more robots this year, he stated.