Autonomous Mobile Robots Market for Intralogistics Applications Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

Autonomous Mobile Robots Market for Intralogistics Applications Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The Autonomous Mobile Robots Market for Intralogistics Applications is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 18.91% over the forecast period. The increasing penetration of developing and developed countries in logistics is driving the growth of the intralogistics market.

Key Highlights

• Autonomous mobile robots are used in logistics for material handling applications such as transporting parts from one factory area to another. The adoption of different technologies in the logistics sector makes the use of mobile robots crucial in fleet control optimization. Logistic robots automate the process of storing and moving goods as they make their way through the supply chain.
• The growth in the e-commerce industry worldwide and the growing need for efficient warehousing and inventory management are driving the market studied. Automation in warehousing offers extreme convenience when it comes to cutting down overall business costs and reducing errors in product deliveries.
• According to DHL, a prominent 3PL company and a significant end-user of warehouse automation solutions, despite the advantages, 80% of warehouses are “still manually operated with no supporting automation.” Furthermore, warehouses, i.e., those that use conveyors, sorters, and pick and place solutions, account for 15% of the total warehouses. In contrast, only 5% of current warehouses are automated.
• Additionally, in Jan 2022, the DHL supply chain invested USD 15 million in warehouse automation technology supplied by Boston Dynamics. The multi-purpose mobile robot will be introduced to warehouses across North America over the next three years, initially tackling the unloading of boxes from trucks at select DHL facilities.
• Warehouse Robots witnessed massive deployments, and amid COVID-19, the market witnessed a significant speed in deployment. The COVID-19 pandemic led warehouse operators to consider accelerating their timetables to adopt automation and robotics. Those who have successfully deployed also depicted the creation of safer workplaces by reducing interactions among workers by simultaneously enhancing productivity to meet increasing demands for e-commerce. The surge in e-commerce during the last several months led to the faster deployment of mobile robots in the logistics industry.

Autonomous Mobile Robots Market Trends

Tow/Tractor/Tug are Expected to Hold the Significant Share

• The tow/tractor/tug type of AGV is a key element in intralogistics operations. With minor customizations. It can be used for multiple tasks, such as a semi-automatic pickup in warehouses, transporting raw materials to the production line, or dispatching end-products for transportation (loading and unloading). Being the most powerful of all the other types of AGVs, the tugs are often deployed to handle heavy loads.
• With the increasing concerns regarding safety in operations and the rapidly snowballing air traffic, especially in business hubs like North America and Europe, the demand for tugs is expected to grow enormously over the forecast period. Furthermore, with the advancements in AGV technology, tugs are expected to emerge as attractive options for intralogistics operations.
• Governments are making various investments to boost automation in the logistics industry. For instance, in Sep 2022, Innovate UK, the national agency that encourages innovation in business, provided funds to Fusion Processing and Bradshaw Electric Vehicles to enable them to develop fully autonomous, unmanned tow tractor vehicles that will be in commercial use next year. Autonomous commercial vehicles will be used in the logistics of warehouses, factories, and airports, where Tow Tractors are used extensively.
• Further, in March 2022, NAVYA, a provider of autonomous mobility systems, signed an MoU with the Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support the implementation of autonomous vehicles in the Kingdom. The aim is to implement pilot projects, validate use cases, define regulations, and build up local competencies in order to speed up the large-scale deployment of level 4 autonomous vehicle fleets over the whole of the Arabian Peninsula.

North America to Hold Significant Market Share

• Growth in eCommerce is the primary reason for the increasing application of robots in warehouse and distribution centers in the United States, in addition to advancements in technology that have made robots better and smaller, lower costs, and a shortage of labor in some places, further helping the market to grow.
• The outspread of coronavirus across the world has beneficiated the studied market as large and small companies are expanding the use of robots to maintain social distancing and reduce the number of staff that has to physically come to work.
• For instance, Amazon and Walmart's warehouse has increased the use of robots for sorting, shipping, and packing, which is expected to reduce the number of complaints by warehouse workers as they cannot social-distance from their colleagues under the current conditions. This is creating more opportunities for logistic automation to grow in the region.
• With the integration of artificial intelligence and other improvements in robotics (e.g., better machine vision, better sensors, etc.), robotics promises to see significantly improved pricing and performance over the next decade and is expected to drive the studied market in the region.
• For instance, Warehouse robotic automation startup Plus One Robotics Inc. has recently received funding of USD 33 million for boosting its expansion in the U.S. and Europe and driving product development of its vision software for logistics robots.

Autonomous Mobile Robots Industry Overview

The Autonomous Mobile Robots Market for Intralogistics Applications is highly fragmented. An increase in the number of applications and technological advancements across regions provides lucrative opportunities in the market. Overall, the competitive rivalry among existing competitors is high. The major vendors operating in the market look for strategic investments to expand their market share. Some of the strategies adopted by them are as follows:

In Nov 2022, Hyundai Mobis announced the development of mobile collaborative robots and self-driving logistics robots, an integrated system for controlling multiple robots. The robots will feature a set of technologies that encourage safe interactions between robots and their human counterparts. The development of mobile collaborative robotic and logistics robotic systems based on autonomous driving has been implemented for pilot operation in its Ulsan plant. The collaborative and logistics robots can be utilized in manufacturing or distribution bases as well as in service locations.

In April 2022, Rapyuta Robotics Co. Ltd. announced the funding of USD 51 million from Goldman Sachs to accelerate the expansion of robotics solutions and artificial intelligence technologies. The funds will be used to make robotics useful for all logistics applications and provide support for the development, implementation, and operation of robotics solutions. The company is further focusing on its mission to make robots more attainable to global logistics users and to empower lives with new cloud robotics solutions.

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