How will drones and robots support unmet global needs?

Andover, Massachusetts – a recently released Korn ferry report estimates that the global skilled labor shortage will reach 85 million jobs by 2030, equivalent to $8.5 trillion. Many of these jobs will be in the industrial and service sectors. In these two industries, COVID-19 has exposed the weaknesses of the global supply chain and labor reserves. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and robots can alleviate this situation by efficiently automating human tasks.

Today, UAVs are rapidly being put into service for many unique mission critical applications, including security monitoring, package delivery, agriculture, national defense, and even natural disaster recovery and humanitarian aid delivery tasks. Looking forward to the next few years, we will find that UAVs will play a more important role in more dangerous application fields, such as high-voltage line inspection, bridge tower inspection and physical repair of commercial shipping ships. The use of UAVs in these types of applications has several advantages, including faster response time and real-time data acquisition. More importantly, the use of unmanned systems in high-risk activities currently operated manually can eliminate the risk of employee injury, collateral damage and related liability costs.

With the increasing integration and interdependence of the global economy, the demand for consumer goods and durable goods is growing exponentially. Due to this explosive demand, today’s factories find it difficult to purchase, produce and deliver goods in time. This is the meaning of using robot services. Robots are good at choosing task paths when decisions are limited. Robots can work continuously for several weeks, bringing predictable and repeatable results, which can significantly improve work efficiency and output. Driven by the long-term needs of consumers, robots and other automation systems will be rapidly adopted.

In order for UAV and robot applications to continue to innovate, they need lightweight and compact power supplies with higher power supply. The power module is a power supply scheme with dense power and good heat dissipation. It is not only simple to configure, but also very easy to expand when more power is needed.

In order for UAVs and robots to be widely deployed, we need to rethink the most influential limitation – power supply. How to use various power sources from airborne batteries to tethered power or alternative energy sources (such as hydrogen fuel cells) and then to renewable energy sources (such as solar, wind and wave energy) to power them, so as to increase the payload and prolong the flight time or stay online to meet the production demand.

When we talk to customers, they usually try to put the power supply into a very small space. Size and weight are always the most important to them. Therefore, the power module is a good solution. They are not only small and cool, but also provide a lot of power for mobile applications.

This is where high-density power supply networks come into play. If power is limited in many mobile applications, it can also be a driver of innovation if used properly.

Module based solutions provide high integration with high efficiency, so you can maximize the power advantage with less space than conventional power topologies. This transformation of power transmission mode means that UAV and robot designers can incorporate more features, functions and higher working voltage into their design without any compromise.