Coronavirus Will Accelerate World Wide Adoption of Automation Technologies

As part of our new service offerings in regards to startup scouting and technology assessments (Tech Matchmaker), we continuously keep our eyes on technology trends and re-access our positions almost daily.

One trend we have been following closely for the while is with robotic automation of a variety of services ranging from burger flipping to warehouse fulfillment robots. We firmly believed that this trend will continue to accelerate with the onset of lower cost robotics and minimum wage pressures, but mother nature decided to intervene.

One accelerator of the trend we had not considered was a pandemic like the coronavirus.  Although something fairly common to plan for in most disaster recovery plans, the virus hit key industrial points in China, causing a tidal wave throughout financial markets as entire factories were shuttered and people quarantined in their homes.

An article in CNBC (Article) as of 3/2/2020, shows the obvious solution to factory stability and one that China is realizing after the fact. Automation technologies are all but immune to a pandemic, so while human labor may be cheaper in the short term, it will not be immunue to any additional viral pandemics.  Certain jobs lend themselves to manual labor, but it is almost guaranteed that an assessment will be made on all labor positions after this latest outbreak.

We fully expect industrial automation to reach break-neck speeds in the coming few months both China and the rest of the world.