Amidst all the news regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most prominent ones was on robots being used to serve patients in COVID-19 wards. One such robot was the KARMI-Bot developed by Asimov Robotics. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only accelerated the adoption of robots but has also re-imagined its use.
“In the good old days, robots were considered only for hazardous or dangerous jobs. Now, the danger is everywhere, so there is also an opportunity for us everywhere” said Jayakrishnan T, IEEE Member and CEO, Asimov Robotics. “The pandemic has flipped the scenario in favor of companies like ours. The pandemic has also served as a catalyst for Deep Tech, and as a counter-narrative for those who do not understand the importance of technology,” he added.
The pandemic, Jayakrishnan said, has redefined the use of Deep Tech in everybody’s day-to-day lives. “The change in adoption as far as the Robotics Industry is considered is not even exponential, but a step-change. People are no longer looking at automation and robotics as a threat to employment,” he stated.
The different sectors wherein robotics will witness increased usage is hospitality, healthcare, BFSI, retail, and so on. “As the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the direction of the latest trends in all technology applications, it has become mandatory to maintain the new world order in every aspect of development. As far as robotics and automation are concerned, the COVID-19 impact has accelerated the adoption of these technologies to reduce the dependence on human beings,” mentioned Jayakrishnan.
Furthermore, he added that robotics is no longer limited to only the software aspect but also the physical aspect wherein the customer interaction comes in. “Robots can interact with humans through Natural Language Processing, and also learn from the interaction so that a better experience can be provided to the customer the next time they come in,” said Jayakrishnan.