Exploring Automation and Robotics as a Service

I would like to share an interview I recently had with one of FPSA’s newest member companies – Formic. In this interview, Formic’s Co-Founder, Misa Ilkhechi, discussed automation and robotics and what they are doing to make this technology more accessible for food processors.To get more news about RaaS, you can visit glprobotics.com official website.

FPSA: Misa, Formic is a new member to FPSA and it is my pleasure to speak with you regarding your technology. Can you share with us a little background? How long has Formic been in business and what type of products and services do you provide for the food and beverage industry?

Formic has been in business for almost two years. Our team has over 300 years of combined experience in industrial automation and robotics. We provide robots or any other type of automation (case packers, palletizers, case erectors, AMRS, and Automated Forklifts) as an operational service where manufacturers “pay as they go”. We charge only for the uptime of the equipment (think of a staffing agency that provides robots instead of manual labor). Our customers save 40% on average on their operational expenses compared to their rising labor costs. We scope, design, and install the equipment and won't charge until the system is up and running at our customer's facility. We also continue to monitor, service and maintain the robots at no additional cost, so the production doesn't miss a beat. We like to call it RaaS (Robotics-as-a-Service).

Allied Market Research published a new report, titled, The service robotics market size was valued at $21.7 billion in 2020, and is estimated to reach $153.7 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 21.2% from 2021 to 2030. A service robot is a robot that performs useful and dangerous task for humans. These robots are used in various applications such as construction, medical, field, logistics, domestic, and entertainment.

Applications of service robots depend upon their use and operation in end user industries. For example, disinfection robots are used to disinfect surroundings in healthcare establishments, medical premises airports, and public places. Professional service robots are used in commercial tasks and personal service robots are used in domestic or non-commercial tasks.
The key players that operating in the global service robotics are iRobot Corporation, Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, Aethon, Inc., Yujin Robot Co., Ltd., GeckoSystems Intl. Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Robert Bosch GmbH, and AB Electrolux.

Professional service registered highest revenue in 2020 owing to wide usage application in healthcare, construction, logistics, defense & security, and many more whereas; personal service robotics is expected to grow with highest CAGR owing to surge in adoption for household chores and entertainment purpose.
RaaS for a Variety of Uses

Cobalt Robotics offers robots to patrol buildings for a solution that the company says is 65 percent cheaper than having human security guards to guard premises. The data the robots collect is funnelled back to artificial intelligence algorithms that can find insights to make security operations better.

Fetch Robotics promises on-demand automation for “any payload, any facility, any workflow.” They were also named by the World Economic Forum as one of the technology pioneers that have the power to “shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Among other tasks, Fetch robots help to automate warehouse operations for online retailers who must deal with seasonal spikes. RaaS is very appealing in these circumstances because it allows companies to quickly scale up to meet a high demand without investing in equipment that won’t be used in slower periods.

Warehouse picker robots are the area of expertise for InVia Robotics. The company offers a subscription-based model for goods-to-person-fulfilment service. InVia claims they can boost order fulfilment by 500%.

Industrial robotics firm Kuka isn’t satisfied with offering just robots for lease; they are launching a SmartFactory as a Service initiative to give their customers an option to rent out an entire robot-staffed automated plant.