Due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, we are seeing more opportunities for a touchless economy, which will allow the growth of industry 4.0, smart homes, robots, IoTs, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The touchless economy includes any economic activity performed without close interaction or being physically present in the place of the transaction. For example, during the quarantine period, we have seen a shift towards online meetings, online education, telemedicine, and online shopping from Amazon, Flipkart, etc. to reduce human contact. We are also seeing increased demand for robots in hospitals, factories, and daily life. For example, a robot can allow healthcare workers to remotely take temperatures and measure blood pressure and oxygen saturation from patients hooked up to a ventilator. A robot can also disinfect hospitals, airports, factories, workspace, and sensitive areas with ultraviolet light. Drones and robots are also used to watch for public works and public safety to identify violations of stay-at-home restrictions, etc.
We are also expecting a shift towards flexible and smart manufacturing, which can help part fabricators to maintain a balance between their inventory and actual demand. During the post-COVID period, there will be a significant increase in digital transformations in payments, receipts, supply chains, and many other aspects of business in order to increase efficiency. Companies who have already invested in smart manufacturing or contactless technologies will be doing better to improve production efficiencies as well as worker’s safety to avoid further transmission of the virus. Major manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus, Safran, Honeywell, GE Aviation, General Motors, and Ford have already invested in smart manufacturing or contactless technologies to realize reductions in costs, wastage, and production time.
In a touchless economy, there will be an increase in demand for autonomous vehicles, autonomous/smart factories, and additive manufacturing (3D printing). Smart manufacturing will allow new efficiencies in productivity, utilization, throughput, and maintenance. For example, General Motors is growing its use of connected robots that can help the automaker identify maintenance problems before they occur. Uber recently said that since 80% of the riding cost is the expenses of the driver, the use of autonomous vehicles will increase its profitability. However, there are still challenges in autonomous vehicles because they lack the ability to identify and classify objects until they are nearby, which causes accidents.
