The use of industrial robots in manufacturing dates back to the 1950s and presently industrial robots have become a mature industry. We witness the use of industrial robots in assembly lines as evidence of automation. The use of robots for assembly purposes grew under the notion that there were precisely defined tasks for robots to perform and that robots could be programmed for these purposes. Therefore, the environment and the tasks assigned to robots were controlled without interruption neither by a human nor by another robot. It is clear now that, the level of automation that can be reached in this way is limited as the number of tasks that can be accomplished by those robots is restricted. Today, companies satisfied with using robots in this limited manner are receiving minimal efficiency returns for a comparatively large level of investment.
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Today’s digital manufacturing landscape is allowing manufacturers to collect data from their machines to make better business decisions and overlay artificial intelligence (AI) to boost efficiency. This is especially true in the areas of assembly and logistics. According to Forbes, “Caterpillar's Marine Division is saving $400,000 per ship per year after machine learning analyzed data on how often hulls should be cleaned for maximum efficiency” [1]. Another example according to Forbes is “The BMW Group uses AI to evaluate component images in ongoing production lines to spot deviations from the standard in real-time.” The pandemic has provided a hard reset for manufacturers to grow stronger, more resilient and more resourceful. To accomplish this, industry must double down on analytics and AI-driven pilots. Combining human experience, insight, and AI techniques, they're discovering new ways to differentiate themselves while driving down costs and protecting margins [1]. Integration of robotics, AI, and Big Data is a critical step to the future of assembly and logistics of a successful manufacturing industry.

While the adoption of traditional industrial robots decreased by 12.5% from 2018 to 2019 theshare of collaborative robots increased by the same percentage. From 2017 to 2018, the adoption of collaborative robots increased by more than 45% while the percentage increase for traditional industrial robots was only 4.4%. These interesting trends suggest that the need for a new generation of robots is increasing. These new generation of industrial robots will be more versatile, more collaborative, and able to move between the lines of assembly.

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