With its endless applications, the robotics industry affects not only the renewable energy industry but all of manufacturing. In fact, robotics and other emerging technologies are a very important part of the current U.S. administration’s economic push. Through the new Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) and the National Robotics Initiative, the U.S. is looking to establish a leadership position in both research and application, regaining market share from big commercial robotics programs in Japan, South Korea and Europe.
Of the importance of manufacturing, MIT’s Suzanne Burger writes:
Over the past 25 years, a fundamental change in the structure of production has taken place, as digitization and modularity have made it possible to separate R&D and design from production in industries where these functions had previously been integrated within corporations. The experiences of successful firms over the past 30 years make it plausible to think that manufacturing can be outsourced and offshored without any damage to the engines of innovation…(However) companies in wind and solar, biotech, new materials, batteries and other emerging technology sectors suggest a number of reasons to question whether the IT paradigm will be workable for them. Already it appears that the challenges in scaling up these activities form laboratories through startups into full production of new products and services are different from the issues that software or electronics companies face in their transition from product idea to market.
Renewable energy is a prime example of an industry that is poised to take off if radically new manufacturing technologies can be developed. Robotics and other industries under the emerging technologies umbrella – nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, vertical farming, smart grid, and many others in agriculture, healthcare, computers or neurotechnology – are therefore critical to the success of the U.S. economy.
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