As a start it is worth looking at the journey undertaken by manufacturing which started installing robots over 50 years ago. At that time, the leading sector was automotive, and it is still a major user and driver of robotics technologies. The initial installations were replacing tasks which were largely dull, dirty, or dangerous, from foundries to the body and paint shops. A modern car plant does use hundreds of robots but there are still also hundreds of workers undertaking tasks that, currently, are still beyond the capabilities of robot technology.

The electronics sector has more recently become the second major market for robot automation. In many cases these are undertaking high precision tasks as well as many repetitive and mundane operations.

In both electronics and automotive the use of robot technology has enabled the production of highly reliable, technologically advanced products at very cost-effective prices. This would not have been possible if the previous, manually based, production systems were still in use. What’s more, use of robotic production technology has enabled widespread accessibility to phones, computers, and cars.

Even in manufacturing there is still significant scope for much greater use of robot technology. In the UK, the automotive sector has almost 12 times as many robots per worker as other industries (International Federation of Robotics). It is also worth noting that the reported level of vacancies in UK manufacturing is currently 58,000 (Make UK) and therefore the narrative should be about robots addressing labour shortages, not taking jobs. Most of these applications will be in SME businesses often dealing with much greater variability and with much less experience of automation.

We are also starting to see much greater interest in robots across a range of industry sectors including logistics, construction, and agriculture, as well as other sectors such as healthcare. The technology challenges in these sectors tend to be more demanding because the environments and application requirements are not as suited to the deployment of robots.

The workforces in these businesses also have much less experience of robots. In many cases there also needs to be greater worker interaction necessitating more sophisticated safety systems.

This interest in robotics is largely being driven by a lack of available labour. The current, total job vacancies in the UK is over 800,000 (ONS). Many industries are predicting labour shortages to grow, over the next 10 to 15 years, as the retirees from their aging workforce significantly outnumber the number of new entrants. Robots provide an obvious solution to this challenge.

The rapid progress in AI is aiding the deployment of robots into these newer opportunities both in manufacturing and elsewhere. AI is enabling two significant steps forward. Firstly, by enhancing the capabilities of robots, equipped with vision and sensing systems, to carry out more challenging tasks or operate in less structured environments.

Secondly, by making the robots much easier to program and operate, they become easier for less experienced workforces to use. The goal has to be developing robot technology to be as easy to use as a mobile phone.

Major steps forward have been made with mobility and navigation which are key technologies for deployment in many of the newer sectors, such as agriculture and construction. AI also has a role to play in delivering improvements to these technologies, enhancing both performance and ease of use.

There is also significant investment going into humanoid robots. These general-purpose robots, built in human form, are seen by some as the holy grail of robotics. There are certainly some applications where a human form is a better solution but there are many more where a humanoid is over specified and therefore an expensive option.

In the same way the automotive industry developed its products and manufacturing operations to enable and suit the capabilities of industrial robots, I expect to see something similar in many other sectors. If a task can be modified to suit a simple robot, that must be a better approach, than the cost and complexity of utilising a humanoid.

There will be applications for humanoids where they need to operate within a human environment which cannot be modified or where humans will continue to be present, for example, at home. However, humanoids are complex and expensive machines, and the safety challenge is yet to be solved, so I do think it will be a number of years before we start to see widespread deployment.

Over the next 10 years there are going to be many opportunities to deploy robots, on a large scale, across a wide range of sectors. These are likely to be undertaking the mundane, arduous, dangerous, or dirty tasks. Those tasks which people should no longer be doing and helping to address future labour shortages. This will allow us to utilise people where their skills and attributes add value, providing better, more fulfilling jobs. In turn this improves productivity and enables higher pay as well as driving growth to deliver the prosperity required to support the kind of society we all wish for.

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2025 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe