Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

Opinion: The new wave of robotic arms helps small businesses

New robots save money and boost innovation through ‘desktop-to-notebook integrated design’, says Johnson Zhu of Elephant Robotics

High acquisition costs of new technology are harming small businesses that can’t afford to go all-in like the big companies.

Robotics are the lifeblood of large industrial plants and big companies, enabling them to automate multiple tasks while increasing productivity.

Smaller businesses, on the other hand, can’t afford to create innovative products or services or rapidly scale by using the same formula, because they’re in a different league game.

Elephant Robotics, a newcomer in the robotics space wants to change the game for small businesses by offering a significant leap of differentiation.

Their main advancement is the development of an “all in one” robotic arm concept, with an integrated design that follows the simple yet revolutionary path of desktop-to-notebook evolution.

No pendant necessary

The robotic arms developed in the past would require a matching teaching pendant and a control box when being used.

The materials, production and design of the entire process would stand on the backbone of a significant investment of money and manpower. Additionally, manipulation and usage were very difficult and required high expertise.

Elephant Robotics has flipped the difficulty and complexity of the robotic arms ecosystem concept by creating an integrated design that significantly simplifies the cost of production.

This means that their end product has a lower price for the end customer and can easily incorporate a robotic arm within their business with a drastically lower investment.

Robotics are undergoing the same development route that we’ve witnessed with computers, going from chunky big machines that only engineers could control, to elegant, and easy to operate laptops that even a teenager has in their school backpack. It opens a new world of possibilities for small businesses using robotic arms.

Elephant Robotic advocates the ease of usage and lower cost of robotic arms for small businesses. The company’s robotics serve as a catalyst for small businesses, one that actually offers ease of manipulation, but also with a price tag that a small business can afford.

From a massage parlour that can experiment with a new technique without having to send someone to learn a new style of massage, with a few key strokes, a robotic arm can easily diversify the menu offering. Same goes for a small bar where the robotic arm can serve drinks or serve as a smart assistant in a research lab.

Optional actuators 

Elephant Robotics’ approach is initiating access to the robotics world through optional actuators. They developed only 2 sizes of motors and drive modules in the robotic arm.

This modular design allows to reduce SKUs in volume manufacturing and reduce production. Its simplification offers a small business a powerful tool to experiment with and incorporate in their daily operation.

Elephant Robotics approach is pioneering access to the robotics world to a new category of small businesses that don’t need to learn to code, helps them “shape” the robot to perform a variety of tasks fast and in a safe manner while keeping it cost-effective.

Elephant Robotics went one step further and created a platform where they constantly add and update the skills that the robotics can perform.

Being an open platform, it allows everyone to peruse the list of skills available and modify them to suit their own small business needs, without being bothered by the low-level details of how the robot ends up getting there.

This way the small business concentrates only on the variety of applications.

The evolution of a “desktop-to-notebook” trajectory has opened robotic arms to virtually any small business applying the same expansion mindset of a big company, yet with a smaller investment.

Progress in robotics is slow, but with players in the field like Elephant Robotics, there is only a matter of time when every smart small business seizes this opportunity and adopts it to create ambitious great projects.

The robots have gained already notable recognition amongst small businesses and have been purchased by companies in China, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Greece, Germany and many others.

They’re also generating buzz in some of the world’s top 500 procurement, known for choosing only solutions with strategic insight in future development potential.

This highlights how robotics are becoming important as well as how Elephant Robotics gained their own seat at the small business’ strategy table.

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