Determining the future of robotics power

The global take-up of industrial robots grew by 15% in 2015, reaching over 253,000 unit sales that year according to a report from the International Federation of Robotics. With the integration of collaborative robots (CoBots) and developments in artificial intelligence, smart proximity sensing and actuation, the market doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

To overcome power failure in robots, Ultralife has designed batteries for robotics using non-rechargeable Lithium Thionyl Chloride and Lithium Manganese Dioxide cells. The focus now, is to tackle the issues concerning service robots.

Michele Windsor, Global Marketing Manager of Ultralife Corporation explained: “The power requirements for service robots can differ substantially. They can be used to move shelves and pallets across a warehouse, guide an autonomous vehicle in a factory or even a trolley in a hospital. With more robotic applications being adopted across industries, we expect that existing power solutions may be quickly outgrown.

“At Ultralife, we’re interested to learn more about the technologies and devices that are currently in development, to see how existing power sources measure up. Our survey aims to find out the most popular battery characteristics for newer applications including the voltage, amount of power it’s expected to consume and the run-time between charges.

“With the robot market forecasted to reach $14.29bn by 2023, making sure OEMs and design engineers have the right power sources to integrate is critical.”

To participate in Ultralife’s robotics survey, click here.