Robotics Making Moves Across Production, Farming, and Driving

The world of robotics is home to not only the stereotypical personified robot with humanistic qualities, but increasingly independent autonomous vehicles utilizing radar and other sensing capabilities to think for themselves. IDTechEx's portfolio of Robotics & Autonomy Research Reports and Subscriptions is home to the latest research into the ways robotic technology, including humanoids, drones, and autonomous cars, can bring a helping hand to human lives.

 

 

Humanoid robots are an increasingly popular way to integrate artificial intelligence into human-like, physical capabilities. Their presence within industrial spaces and manufacturing lines has the potential to maximize efficiency and harness the sturdy qualities of robots, without them tiring or needing breaks while working. They are currently deployed in research, demonstration, and material handling and inspection roles, with IDTechEx stating that tactile sensing qualities will be a distinguishing factor for humanoid robots in the pursuit of achieving dexterous manipulation and tasks that require light-handedness. Some of the key goals in the development of humanoids include being to achieve replaceable and interchangeable components for adaptability and maintenance purposes, the use of lightweight and efficient materials to reduce power consumption and enhance mobility and achieving power efficiency and battery innovations to extend their working time.

 

IDTechEx's report, "Humanoid Robots 2026-2036: Technologies, Markets, and Opportunities", highlights some of the main difficulties that may be currently preventing the market from taking off. These include the ability of the robots to adapt to diverse environments and different tasks as a result of less than desired training data quality, a fragmented ecosystem of supply chains, sensor durability and feedback delay, and limited use cases. Despite these pain points, IDTechEx reports that the industry has received increased attention, meaning the future may see increased uptake of these robots, such as in automotive manufacturing.

 

 

Moving from ground to air, IDTechEx's research into the drone market showcases the development of drones in recent years, including the move from being classed as simply toys and experiments to being of use within multiple sectors including agriculture, military, logistics, and energy. IDTechEx predicts the market for drones to be at US$147.8 billion worldwide by 2036, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.9%.

 

IDTechEx's report, "Drones Market 2026-2036: Technologies, Markets, and Opportunities", explores the use of drones in various sectors. In the farming industry, a global 2025 estimation sees more than 30% large farms expected to be using drones for tasks such as monitoring crops, spraying, and seeding, while last-mile delivery drones are becoming increasingly popular within the US, Europe, and China for e-commerce, food, and other day-to-day items. More remote deliveries including providing island supplies is now emerging as another task for drones, however, jobs further afield and cold-chain drone logistics are expected to arise further in the future, depending on the development of regulations.

 

The sector currently responsible for the highest growth in drone use is inspection and maintenance, where drones can replace humans in carrying out inspections across powerlines, pipelines, and wind turbines, using AI software to detect problems that may require attention. These developments are vital in the replacement of regular dangerous inspections carried out by humans, while also making these necessary processes more straightforward and less expensive. IDTechEx predicts that by 2030, these uses for drones will overtake agriculture and be responsible for 25% of all commercial drone revenue.

 

 

As radar and sensing technology becomes more advanced, vehicles are stepping up in levels of autonomy, meaning less focus and high alertness is required from drivers, particularly in conditions of low visibility or at night.

 

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) now extend well beyond core functions such as adaptive cruise control (ACC), automatic emergency braking (AEB), and lane keep assist (LKA). Through the integration of cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors, combined with more capable software algorithms and computing platforms, vehicles are increasingly able to deliver higher-level features such as Highway Navigate on Autopilot (NOA) and Urban NOA for point-to-point assisted driving. IDTechEx's report, "Automotive Radar Market 2025-2045: Robotaxis & Autonomous Cars", covers in depth the latest radar technologies.

 

Driven by evolving safety regulations and rising consumer demand, these sensing hardware systems are becoming increasingly important features across new vehicle launches. The presence of such technology is allowing autonomous vehicles to be categorized alongside other robotic technologies, as they gain increasingly more independence and the ability to act based on their own intelligence.

 

Level 2+ is now an increasingly common level of vehicle autonomy, where drivers can take their hands of the wheel while maintaining eyes on the road, leaving the car to do the steering. However, Level 3 will be trickier to achieve, as it will see drivers permitted to take their eyes off the road. IDTechEx's report, "Autonomous Driving Software and AI in Automotive 2026-2046: Technologies, Markets, Players", explains one of the barriers to achieving Level 3 being an unwillingness of automotive manufacturers to accept full responsibility and liability for potential collisions, meaning the software and hardware reliability must be robust before this can be reached. However, IDTechEx predicts that in 10 years, these types of vehicles will be more common, showcasing a move to more robot-like vehicles that have even more independence, and rely less on human decision making and reaction times.

 

For more information on the vast world of robotics, visit IDTechEx's portfolio of Robotics & Autonomy Research Reports and Subscriptions for the latest research developments and market forecasts.