Mr. Schwarzkopf, according to Frank Konrad, Chairman of your trade association, the VDMA firmly expects to significantly exceed the previous sales record of 2018 this year - which robotics segments are you focusing on in particular? In which areas or sectors do you expect the greatest investments and sales growth?

Patrick Schwarzkopf: What is really giving us a tailwind is the extremely high order backlog that has built up over the last year or two - not least due to the enormous disruptions in the supply chains. This applies to practically all segments. However, Integrated Assembly Solutions in particular, i.e. the manufacturers of assembly lines, had an order backlog of almost a year at times. Overall, there is a lot of momentum from various customer industries: the transformation of the automotive industry towards electromobility, the expansion of renewable energies, but also the medical and pharmaceutical industries need a lot of automation.

What is the current state of robot density in Germany? Where does Europe stand in an international comparison?

According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), Germany has the highest robot density in Europe: there are 397 industrial robots per 10,000 industrial employees. This puts us in 4th place in the global ranking behind South Korea, Singapore and Japan. Of course, that's something to be proud of. But now comes the 'but': this data refers to 2021. In a recent analysis, we have extrapolated the previous development with a time series analysis and come to the conclusion that China will overtake Germany in terms of robot density as early as this year. Robot density stands for the degree of automation. We no longer have a lead over China here. Germany and Europe must therefore step on the gas when it comes to automation, otherwise things could get uncomfortable.

What current trends in robotics do you see? What are manufacturers focusing on and what are users asking for?

The big issue is ease of use. It's about lowering the threshold for using robotics in order to open up new fields of application, especially for users who have little or no experience with robotics. The underlying narrative is called the 'democratization of robotics' and means that even people without prior knowledge of robotics or special technical training can now operate robots, and perhaps even set them up and program them. The 'no code' approach aims to ensure that users are not expected to write any programming code. Everything is as intuitive as operating a smartphone. Added to this is low-cost robotics, which is 'good enough' for certain fields of application, but much cheaper. Collaborative robotics and lightweight robotics are growing disproportionately fast, but are not replacing traditional industrial robotics behind the safety fence.

What does demographic change mean for the development of robotics? Are robots the means of choice against the shortage of skilled workers?

Current forecasts assume that the potential workforce in Germany will shrink by a net four to six million people by 2035. This is an enormous threat to our prosperity. Robotics and automation is a very important solution here. We will also increasingly use professional service robots in the service sector, for example in laboratories, building cleaning, infrastructure monitoring, catering, the hotel industry and many other areas. Robotics and automation can at least make an important contribution to solving this problem.

Employees still often have reservations about the use of robots in their company. How do you think this can be countered?

For decades, we could read in the media about robots as job killers. The tide has now turned: Today, the headlines are more about robotics and automation being the savior in times of need in the face of demographic change. I think the issue is over.

What can the VDMA do, what can companies do to dispel fears of the 'robot colleague' and create trust?

We need a human-centered approach to robotics. People must be at the center of robotics applications. To this end, we have defined ten fields of action that are summarized in the 'Good Work Charter of the European Robotics Industry'; for example, the principle that robots should assist humans and not the other way around. The 'Good Work Charter of the European Robotics Industry' can be viewed at www.vdma.org/goodworkcharter. We need to communicate more examples from the perspective of the people who work with robots. Overall, Asia has an advantage here because people there have a very positive attitude towards robotics. We need to move in this direction together as a society.

How do you qualify (unskilled) personnel to operate robots?

We need to bring robotics more into schools so that children can learn how to handle robots and robot programming in a playful way. Vocational school students should also have more direct contact with robotics during their training. The robotics industry also offers many training courses. In addition, there are new approaches that allow you to work intuitively with robots, through drag & drop programming, simple 'demonstration' or even by simply talking to the robot.

How do you see the robot market developing in the future - also internationally? How will robot density develop?

There is only one direction: upwards. We still see a lot of potential here worldwide. Robot density will steadily increase in all regions of the world.

What role does artificial intelligence play in robotics?

Machine learning in particular, which is based on neural networks, is driving robotics forward. This AI gives robots more dexterity, more flexibility and more autonomy. We are currently seeing many applications of AI that enable robots to grasp very different and unknown objects, just as humans do. Robots are learning to see, understand and react flexibly and sensibly to changing environmental situations. There has been great progress in this area, as well as in mobile robotics with truly autonomous and safe navigation.

Where do you see the biggest challenges for your industry over the next ten years?

Patrick Schwarzkopf, Managing Director of the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association

© VDMA

More and more SMEs - even craft businesses - are venturing into robotics. But the potential has not yet been exhausted. We need to work hard to make robotics even easier and more flexible to use. We must counter any existing reservations that robotics is expensive and only for large companies with success stories and suitable products. We are also continuing to work on the end-to-end, cross-manufacturer networking of devices, machines and systems. We will be showing this at Automatica 2023 with our 'decentralized' demonstrator Umati: visitors to the stands of various suppliers can easily 'dive' into the respective robots, image processing systems and screwdriving systems with their smartphones and gain immediate access to the machine and status data on their smartphones.