The rise of robotics in the PLC/software market and beyond

Our Blue Fielders have great knowledge of the market and are also the first to notice changes in it. Recently, there has been a lot of movement in mechanical engineering when it comes to PLC/software. We talked about this with Roger, Software Engineer and recently part of the Blue Fielders team.

As a Senior Software Engineer and manager in the software department of a large company, Roger deals with programming machines specifically for customers or production lines. In addition, he is a commissioning and supervising engineer, making him familiar with all markets in field service. A great advantage, because it means he is up to date with all the trends and changes in the market.

Robotics on the rise

In recent years, systems have become much more complex to program. “Robotics is becoming more important in this and we are going to see that more and more in the coming years,” Roger said. “Right now you see it mostly on the larger production lines. Humans are being helped by robotics. Humans are naturally subject to sleep, for example; they need that to stay productive. Robots can take certain processes out of their hands so that the productivity of the production line remains constant. So robots do not replace humans, but relieve them, allowing them to perform better.”

The function of man does not expire, because there must always be someone to control the thought and creative processes. Robots do take over more logical processes. It will take several decades for robotics to prevail, but that moment is certainly coming, given the changes already taking place.

What will it take to continue this development?

According to Roger, it is primarily the commitment of man himself. The perseverance to make it happen. “You notice that there is resistance. People think it will be at the expense of jobs, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The human behind the machine will have to remain in control, but the machine takes the work out of their hands. Change in this is important, but because man wants to see himself as the protagonist and not in second place, you cannot escape resistance.”

Such resistance will be less common among smaller companies, as they need a platform and creativity (of a new development). They are more likely to own these developments than a larger company that cannot afford the risks. But eventually, as a company, you face an expiring trajectory (the hardware also becomes obsolete), so you can’t get out of it.

Dare to take risks

For the industry, it is important to take the next step in this development. Dare to take risks, but keep making sure your product (machine) works. It can be difficult to replace something if you don’t know if the new one works. On the other hand, taking on those risks is necessary to grow faster and be innovative as a company.

The same is true for Roger: for him it is a learning process. “My field never stands still, there are always new developments. There is a road that is not yet defined, so the reliability, in this case robotics, has to be proven first.”

For 20 years in development

So we would first like to see evidence that robotics works. But make no mistake: the industry has been developing these robots for about 20 years. It is really coming into focus now because there is a need and technology allows it. “20 years ago, technology wasn’t ready to take the burden off humans with robotics. But you see it more and more, also in other industries. Within 10 years, construction will also be replaced by robots. A lot more efficient. But we have to allow it.”