The autonomous mobile robot (AMR) vendor Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) is celebrating its 10th anniversary as both the Danish startup and the industry it helped to found begin the transition from cutting-edge tech startups to producers of mature material handling equipment.
Less than a decade ago, the idea of fully autonomous mobile robots interacting seamlessly with human employees in warehouses and production facilities seemed a futuristic vision, according to MiR, which today is owned by Teradyne Inc. But today, thousands of AMRs from MiR alone deliver parts, transport finished products, and handle multiple other logistics tasks without the need for human operators, separate work areas, or external guidance.
And analysts are forecasting double-digit growth for AMR sales every year through at least 2027 and a period of multi-decade growth. “MiR was one of the early movers in the AMR industry and was visionary in developing a scalable platform of robots that could be easily deployed and integrated into factories and warehouses,” Ash Sharma, managing director at Interact Analysis, said in a release. “It continues to innovate and has helped the industry to grow from a fledgling industry to what is now a multi-billion-dollar sector with AMRs deployed in thousands of buildings around the world.”
Not many robot makers are older than 10 years, with the exception of Vecna (founded in 1998) and Seegrid (2003), which began their lives focused on related automation platforms like automated guided vehicles (AGVs). And it was just 11 years ago that Amazon acquired industry pioneer Kiva Systems in 2012. But a flock of others will soon reach the decade mark, including Fetch Robotics (now owned by Zebra, and founded in 2014), ForwardX (2016), Geek+ (2015), 6 River Systems (now owned by Ocado, founded in 2015), and Locus Robotics (2014).
MiR President Jean-Pierre Hathout sees customers now transitioning from using AMRs in pilots to using AMRs 24x7 in production applications. “In the first 10 years of MiR’s history, we led the industry with innovative AMRs as we scaled globally with our customers,” Hathout said in a release. “I couldn’t be more excited about the next 10 years as we build on that innovation to provide a full range of AMR solutions on common software for our global customers.”
Indeed, software will be the crucial ingredient that helps AMRs gain even greater market share in DCs around the world, he said. By gathering robotic operating data on cloud platforms, fleet owners will be able to manage and optimize the operations of their robots by gaining actionable insights to improve deployments.
“As robot fleets grow, so does the demand for software tools to optimize performance and manage full fleets,” Hathout said. “If we want AMRs to be as common as forklifts and pallet lifters, it is essential that we lower the barriers for implementation, reprogramming, and maintenance. We have already made substantial progress in this direction, and I firmly believe we have only glimpsed the true potential of automated logistic solutions.”
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