German supplier Bosch is moving into robotics — Techxplore
German industrial giant Bosch has announced a significant expansion of its operations in the field of humanoid robotics amid mounting financial pressure on its traditional automotive parts business.
Company executives note that the world’s largest supplier of automotive components has been hit by weak demand and fierce foreign competition faced by European automakers.
To overcome the crisis, Bosch plans to leverage its leading position in automation and the implementation of artificial intelligence.
The company’s CEO, Stefan Hartung, emphasized that the rapid development of humanoid robots powered by generative AI models is opening up new commercial opportunities for the conglomerate.
Robotic systems are becoming capable of performing increasingly complex manufacturing tasks, which automatically generates huge demand for high-tech components.
“With the advent of humanoid robotics, demand for Bosch components and solutions is growing,” he said in a statement during a speech at a themed event in Berlin.
The market for specialized MEMS sensors—which are critical for the coordination and agility of modern robots—is set to become a key growth driver for the German giant.
According to a study by the consulting firm Yole Group, the size of this market will grow to over $19.2 billion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 4%.
Stefan Hartung explained in detail that it is precisely these tiny sensors that determine whether a robot “should tighten its grip or not, whether it is dealing with a sturdy object, or whether it needs to act carefully because it is an egg.”
The industrial scaling of such technologies is currently limited by global electronics production volumes due to the incredible complexity of human anatomy.
“Humans have four million sensory receptors. If we were to create robots equipped with the same number of sensors, four years of global sensor production would barely be enough to equip 12,500 robots,” added the Bosch executive.
Despite the challenges, the company views full automation as the only way to boost the competitiveness of its factories in Germany and address the shortage of skilled workers.
Techxplore reports on this.
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