How to Start Earning from Robotics Right Now?
When thinking about making money in robotics, the first thing that comes to mind is inventing and manufacturing a new robot. However, developing it, setting up sales, and creating a network of service centers is not as simple as it seems. You will encounter various challenges, and the excessively high costs at each stage of this process are just one of them.
Those who have successfully navigated this difficult path have still achieved success. You have likely come across videos and photos online featuring robots that entertain people and assist businesses. You may have seen them showcased at exhibitions or even leading various tours and presentations. But paradoxically, there is no established robotics industry as such in the world yet.
For four decades now, the industrial robot manufacturing industry has been developing. Major companies in China have become regular customers of such devices. In 2018, more than 8 million industrial robots were sold in China. However, the industry has not advanced beyond the creation of robotic conveyor systems and warehouse robots. All these robots perform simple repetitive tasks. Industrial robots cannot yet be assigned more intelligent work due to the underdevelopment of artificial intelligence technology.
A complex and thorny path awaits you if you decide to develop and sell household robots. Currently, only a few types of drones (most often used for aerial video recording and photography), robotic vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, and pool cleaners have found widespread application.
A small percentage of affluent individuals buy robots for children, usually as toys for entertainment. Other types of robots are sold very rarely and in small quantities. Toy robots are often replaced with mechanical models controlled by remote controls, which may look like robots in design but are not actual robots. Some kits for assembling simple robots are used as construction sets for children eager to learn about robotics.
What Can Be Considered a Robot?
Toys or any other technical device controlled remotely are not robots. However, they sell well as they can partially satisfy the growing demand. Furthermore, they are easy to handle. A robot possesses artificial intelligence, whose actions can be programmed, and its software can be installed or updated, etc.
Let's Talk About Toys
Currently, there are about 20 companies producing robot assembly kits. The leader in this field is Lego with their Mindstorms set. https://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms. This company has perhaps gone further than anyone else in terms of robot assembly kits for children of all ages. In addition to offering kits in various price and age categories, they organize various competitions for children and even summer camps for robotics enthusiasts. Is this a big market? It’s simply enormous. In the USA and, following its example, in many other countries, a system for training specialists in robotics has been organized at the state level, starting from preschool. Robotics classes in schools, state-funded robotics clubs in every school, competitions at all levels, special children's camps and robotics schools, special programs at major universities for students, and a rapidly increasing enrollment in top universities for robotics and related fields, along with huge grants of up to 100% at the largest universities in the world for talented students and winners of robotics contests and competitions.
Investments in this sector already amount to billions of dollars and will multiply in the coming years across all countries. From the USA to China and Saudi Arabia...
What do schoolchildren and students learn and practice with? Right, on Lego kits and competing companies. But the competing companies to Lego have one common problem. These kits are made by engineers without an understanding of child psychology and design. They consist of a set of metal parts, motors, electronics... But it’s impossible to create an outwardly beautiful robot from this kit. It will end up as just another set of metal parts, arranged in a way that with a great deal of imagination one might recognize something resembling a robot... But children need to create a real, beautiful robot that they can play with, program, and learn from. Many "businessmen" simply forget this and lose 95% of their potential market. Here is a direction for a business with an enormous, rapidly growing market.
Just as a generation has grown up not understanding how one can live without computers and mobile phones, now a generation is growing up that doesn’t understand how one can live without robots.
Who Is Currently Producing Robots and Drones?
Drones intended for civilian purposes are now produced by numerous companies, and their number is growing exponentially. While there were only five manufacturers of these devices in 2012, by 2015, there were already over a thousand! Unfortunately, among their founders, there were few experienced business professionals, so most of them went bankrupt and closed down.
However, drones have gained popularity among users, and sales for the companies that survived are rising. But there is no infrastructure of ready-made components for them in the USA; there is only production of custom-designed products. Chinese manufacturers have taken a different path. In China, there are companies that produce standardized components and assemble drones from them. Experts predict the fastest development for these companies since they have long been earning significantly more than their American competitors.
Who Has Already Achieved Success?
One of the richest and most successful manufacturers is the Chinese company DJI Innovation. The Chinese government invested in the development of drones by its specialists, recognizing the potential income for the country. Today, DJI Innovation is the global leader in drone sales, selling over 200,000 units per year. This accounts for almost 80% of all non-military drone sales worldwide. To put it in another way, only 20% of sales come from all other companies! The company employs five thousand specialists engaged in sales, assembly, and production of individual components for civilian drones.
These drones have been used everywhere, including by the American military and police. When the Americans saw China's global dominance in this area and began trying to ban the use of Chinese drones in US government enterprises, it was already too late. China has created an entire infrastructure for the development of standardized drone components, software, autopilots, motors, propellers, bodies, remote control systems, etc. And despite all desires, American companies simply have nothing to make their drones from. No matter how you assemble drones from Chinese basic components, you still end up with a Chinese drone.
It turns out that those who make components for robots, write programs, and develop ways to reduce production costs and lower expenses become the first to get rich, not the ones who make the robots themselves. However, those who create robots will not be left out either.
What Difficulties to Prepare For?
Every business has its difficulties, and this field is no exception. One of them is that any development team, like any specialists, may have its own weaknesses. They may excel in one area but lack deep knowledge in others. This is completely normal, as it's impossible to know everything in the world. Therefore, if you want to develop something from scratch, you will have to search for a balanced team of developers with comprehensive knowledge in various fields and bring in consultants to address specialized issues.
On the other hand, as the practice of American companies has shown, developing from scratch is neither very effective nor economically feasible. In our opinion, the optimal approach would be to develop a series of standard modules and construct robots from them.
Which component should you develop first?
You shouldn’t spend too long pondering the answer to this question. Any component you create will be in demand: a control system, a moving platform, various sensors, batteries, motors, and much more.
It's strange that almost nothing similar exists in the world right now, except for what we've mentioned in China. Computers have long been standardized and unified; parts from one PC easily fit another, practically regardless of the manufacturer and often the year of production. Software is quite easily adaptable, with both Open Source options and specialized software available.
However, with robots, it’s completely different! A part from one robot can only work in its "native" instance or a precise copy from the same manufacturer. There are no other options. A unified system is needed today more than ever. If you have two parts (two modules) that need to work together, developing a third module to connect them can cost more than developing both original modules. Therefore, the idea of “let's buy different components and make a robot out of them” never works. It’s like buying parts from different cars and trying to assemble something from them.
Thus, developing robots is a colossal effort but also offers tremendous opportunities. Engineers will have to go through the same path that generations of computer developers once did to create a unified system for them. Nowadays, the robotics boom is just beginning. Every day, successful startups are being established in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is the time for you to act. We understand that it’s easy to say “act.” But it’s important to know exactly what to do and to have a well-thought-out step-by-step strategy. Creating it is not easy, especially if you currently live outside the US and don’t know all the nuances of doing business in this country. But you have a reliable partner that can register your company, advise you on what to do
and at what stage, organize sales, and all business processes—US Business Services Corp. We will help you become a successful entrepreneur in the US and build a thriving business.
