Entries RSS · Software programmers: hurry up – the hardware is already there!
Engadget recently published two articles about a product no one of us can buy: Festo’s new robotic arm, called Airic’s arm. In order to get an idea about the impact of this development I strongly recommend to watch the video on Festo’s website showing this arm and its almost natural movements. All those readers among you, that are familiar with IT and robotics but have never heard of Festo before, shouldn’ t wonder: The company is a world market leader in pneumatic and electromechanical systems. Founded in 1925 in Esslingen (near Stuttgart, Germany) Festo today is a very good example for german “Mittelstand” (midsize companies).
Airic’s arm is a work done in the research field of “bionics” where Festo aims to learn from nature. In their center for research and development called “bionic learning network” you will not only find Airic but also a robotic fish diving in a swimming pool or even more astonishing: the same fish but filled with helium gas and flying in the air. Festo’s approach to bionic research and robotics reflects a strategic shift from a core (traditional) competetiveness in mechanics (only) to the much broader view of mechatronics. Mechatronics brings together skills in software, electronics and mechanics.
But the main idea for this article was not to praise german companies but to reflect on future business models in robotics. Airic’s arm clearly shows that there are to be found (at least) two decisive elements in each robot: hardware and software. So if you want to have a robot that is not too clumsy in its appearance you might want to have it built with components made by Festo. On the other hand side: Where to take the best software from, including latest advances in AI (artificial intelligence)?
Up to now (industrial) robots are so highly specialized (and limited in their use) that the business model behind shows a lot of similarities with automobile industry. The manufacturer stands for the entire machine including its branding. Behind the scene there can be found many suppliers but customers (buyers) don’t care much about this. In advanced robotics things might get different: A highly sophisticated robot might get developped and built not following the automobile scheme but the one of IT industry. There we can find specialists for hardware and others who deliver the software necessary to run the computers. But a closer look on IT makes clear, that this distinction between hardware and software is not sort of a “peaceful natural law” but has more of a battlefield where market shifts and ruptures are likely to happen and where the boundaries are not always clear.
The IT market division in hardware and software was made possible through standards going back to the beginning of the PC era. Standards are (relatively) easy to set when there is only a small variety of types. But will this be likely in robotics? Marshall Brain recently showed us an example of japanese research work resulting in a wheeled and legged robot. So obviously we are likely to get (sooner or later) a huge variety of different robot types each needing carefully adopted software to run it sucessfully.
But although the variety of types might get endless one thing is for sure: In the long run software will dominate on this playground and manufacturers of robotic hardware might find themselves in an uncomfortable market position, comparable to the one in which suppliers of the automobile industry are stuck today. So in the exciting and emerging market of robotics companies like Festo should think big and embrace strategies that go beyond mechanics and mechatronics. Today, when robots play football, it looks like this. Tomorrow we should see Airic with arms and legs moving in a nearly human way. Then it will be time for software programmers to hurry up and companies having them on their payroll will be glad…
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I imagine that as this is very cutting-edge research, that Festo will be very careful whom to release the specs to? Or are they looking towards building a(n open) software-platform?
For the car-analogy, isn’t it so that cars are battling with rapidly evolving technology and their problems originate from coming from a largely non-IT industry? In the case of robotics, aren’t they kind of in the midst of it now, and should thus be more receptive to the possibilities?
Yes, this is cutting-edge technology and I don’t know how far business planing is going yet.
Automobile industry is facing “late stage markets” in Europe and America. That means no more growth opportunities but much competition on prices.Robotics instead stands for a market in its early stages where you still can chose between the role of a manufacturer or a supplier.
Actually I see several reasons for them not to open up, correct me if I’m wrong.
For one, security: Imagine killer-robots because of buggy code, or worse, a virus.
And second, comoditisation: the reason why software is so strong in the PC market is because IBM (I think) made a mistake ca. 30 years ago of opening their platform. A mistake from their (hardware-) perspective at least, and a goldmine for companies like Microsoft. A better example, for hardware at least, is Apple.
It’s definitely very tricky being a hardware-manufacturer in a world full of hackers.
Concerning IBM: When it was a mistake then for the company, not for me (us)!
The tricky thing about robotics is, that it’s not yet clear, wether single companies will be able to keep up with hardware and software. In both fields expectations are high.
[...] ich im Herbst 2007 zum ersten Mal über Festo (Esslingen) schrieb, konnte ich von den erstaulichen Produkten des Unternehmens noch kein Video einbinden, weil diese [...]