robots as service

What is a robot?

What exactly comes to our mind when we talk about a robot? A robot is a machine that is programmed by a computer, is capable of carrying out complex series of work automatically or can be controlled externally, but we never imagined that robots will become such an important part of our lives.

Robots may be constructed in human form but most of them are designed in machines to carry out task. Robots can be fully automatic or semi-automatic. Some famous humanoid robots are Honda’s advanced step in mobility robot (ASIMO) and TOSY ping pong playing robot (TOPIO) and some other robots include industrial robot, medical robot, dog therapy robot, swarm robots, UAV drones etc.

Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS)

 Robots have replaced humans in doing every possible task. Whether it’s a simple task or a dangerous one which human prefer not to do or task which humans are unable to do due to size limitations, and this what making increasing use of robots and making them an important part of the society. RaaS is growing rapidly. ABI research predicts an installation of 1.3 million Raas by 2026 generating a revenue  of $34 billion in revenue. Let’s look at the rise of Robot.-as-a Service.

Industrial sectors are now familiar with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or Big Data-as-a-Service (BDaaS), RaaS or Robot-as-a-Service is a similar set-up whose service gets huge benefit to the industries as it is fully automated and reduces the headache of many work load. RaaS’s flexibility, scalability, efficiency and lower cost of entry than traditional robotic programs is what making it gain popularity in business world. It is quite appealing today as it gives organization the opportunity to easily response to the changing market. It offers less capital for the business to get started. Several industrial companies are benefit from RaaS in such a way that it protects and provide security to them. From warehouses to fulfillment centers, healthcare and others RaaS is benefiting them.  Though robots have a huge impact in the automobile and manufacturing sector they are also useful in small and medium- sized companies. Some of the companies Raas developing tools are:

  1. Amazons AWS Robo Maker that includes machine learning, monitoring, and analytics service.
  2.  Google Cloud Robotics developed by Google. It combines Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable an open ecosystem of automations solution that uses cloud-connected collaborative robots.
  3.  Microsoft is looking forward in bringing Windows 10 to robots with ROS for windows.
  4.  The Honda RaaS Platform aims at providing a diverse range of robots and cloud based data service to various companies.

The variety uses of RaaS are like the Cobalt Robotics that offers to work as a security guard and patrol buildings for security and safety. These are 65% cheaper than the human security guards. Then comes the Fetch Robotics that provide an on-demand automation for any facility, payload, workflow and these were also named as the World Economic Forum. Then comes the Warehouse picker robots. Industrial Robotics kuka are launching a SmartFactory as a service initiative to provide customers an entire Robot staffed automated plant. RaaS is predicted to be more advanced and efficient in future with new functionalities and prototypes. Some modern robots include Mobile Robots, industrial robots, service robot, education robot, modular robot, collaborative robot, military robots etc.

Although RaaS providing a huge technological advancement to society, it is also having a negative effect on the society as it is causing technological unemployment. Robots are replacing human workers in almost every possible way which is leading to workers obsolete and unemployment. This issue needs to be kept on check.