Manufacturers are considering more robots such as ABB’s YuMi, according to ABI Research. Credit: ABB
Just over half of global manufacturers, or 53%, are in the early stages of adopting new industrial robot hardware, according to the latest “Industrial and Manufacturing Survey” by ABI Research. The global technology intelligence firm also found that 28% have already deployed robots within their facilities.
The survey, conducted between Q4 2024 and Q1 of 2025 across the U.S., Germany, and Malaysia, found that manufacturers believe that industrial robots are key to production strategies to improve quality levels. Forty percent of respondents listed the adoption of robotics as a priority for improving quality, up from 34.1% in the previous study.
Nineteen percent of respondents said they will consider adopting industrial robots within the next five years, while 33% will consider the adoption of collaborative or mobile robots within the same time frame.
“Adoption sentiment remains high across the various robot form factors, indicating that manufacturers are aware of the advantages of automation and can identify facets of their value chains where ROI [return on investment] can be delivered,” said George Chowdhury, robotics industry analyst at ABI Research.
“It’s important to note that these results were collected before the recent economic uncertainty,” he observed. “Feasibly, if this survey were conducted today, we would see an uptick in the number of responders evaluating proofs of concept or considering adoption in the next 12 months, in line with reshoring expectations.”
Manufacturers want to compensate for skills gap
Survey respondents ranged from manufacturing engineers to C-level executives, with most participants holding positions as IT managers and above in terms of seniority. The responses were split equally between the three nations.
When queried, this group of manufacturers claimed that a lack of expertise and insufficient time to implement new automation products are the largest barriers to robotics adoption. A lack of the skills needed use new technologies also ranked high as a concern.
Fear of replacement by automated systems was ranked low as an issue, said ABI Research. Further responses highlighted the importance of on boarding, ongoing support, artificial intelligence, and open application programming interfaces (APIs) as key product features for decision makers.
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Generative AI is seen favorably
The survey offered insight into the perception of generative AI for manufacturing applications. Fifty percent of respondents agreed that generative AI can be used to optimize tool paths, indicating a misalignment with the capabilities of AI-augmented robots and their supposed capabilities.
Optimizing tool paths is a key capability of ABB‘s Robot Studio, NVIDIA‘s Isaac portfolio, and the offerings of offline programming software vendors such as Visual Components, Siemens, Dassault Systèmes, and Cenit. By contrast, 63% of respondents acknowledged the value of generative AI for predictive maintenance and 66% for optimizing production lines.
ABI said these responses suggest that generative AI is considered an information technology (IT) — used for planning and enhancing processes with data — rather than an operational technology (OT) for optimizing machine behavior in real time. Importantly, 62% of respondents agreed that generative AI can be used to plan, analyze, and optimize human-robot Interactions.
The survey found positive attitudes among manufacturers toward robotics and its ability to continue augmenting the industry. However, the respondents were less aware of the value proposition of advanced AI plus robotics, asserted ABI Research.
“There is a large disconnect here between the perceived capabilities of AI-augmented robots and the new products that innovators are bringing to market,” said Chowdhury. “Repairing this perception, by educating the market of the capabilities of AI-augmented robots, must be the No. 1 priority of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and systems integrators if they wish to see greater uptake of hardware and for the value of new robotics products to be realized by the manufacturing market.”
These findings are from ABI Research’s Manufacturing Survey H2 2024 market report. This report is part of the company‘s Industrial, Collaborative & Commercial Robotics research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights.
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