Trade shows 1st half 2023: Who's in, what to expect

Parallel to the publication of this article, the local edition of all about automation is taking place in Friedrichshafen. It is already the second regional fair of this organizer this year and various others will follow. The format is very successful and clearly differs from the so-called large trade fairs, also called leading trade fairs. In contrast to these, there is virtually no entrance fee, the guests are catered for, come from the region and each stand is the same size. For this reason, tricky solutions from integrators can be expected at all about automation, but not world premieres from manufacturers.

Startups become more established

What can we expect from the three major industry trade shows that will take place in the first half of the year? These are the Hannover Messe, the Stuttgart LogiMat and the Munich automatica, which will also take place this year as an exception. Motek, which will not open its doors in Stuttgart until the fall, is not discussed here.

The following table, which is limited to manufacturers of robotic arms and AMR/ AGV, shows who is where. The big wow effect is hardly to be expected. Last year's curiously anticipated startups like Agile Robots and Neura Robotics are well known and you know in which direction they are trending. My tips: The Neura booth at automatica will shrink significantly, but will include a price-breaking robot. At Agile Robots, again, my guess is that the Plexiglas that separated the robots from the visitors in 2022 will probably be dropped. Beckhoff is likely to be slow to put its ATRO up for sale. This would include appropriate specifications, which Robco, the other manufacturer of modular robots, should surely already be waiting for. Perhaps there will be a wow effect after all: Rethink Robotics will be 2 years "overdue" at the time of automatica - the only place United Robotics Group exhibits. Rethink had already announced new models for spring 2021.

Universal Robots: Will the inner workings of the UR 20e already be transferred to the other models this year?

In 2022, the market leader's 20 kg UR 20e was announced in a big way and then presented. Its clear improvement over the previous strongest UR cobot, the UR 16e, was not the 4 kg additional payload, but the speed gain with revised inner workings (lower manufacturing costs and dead weight). This design is crying out to be transferred to the older UR models.

However, nothing new can be expected from Techman/Omron. Both have already presented new cobots with a 20 kg payload this year. A stronger Franka Emika would be surprising, and otherwise no major innovations should be expected. Real innovations are more likely to be expected from the peripheral suppliers. Gripping is likely to be a big topic here. Let's wait and see at LogiMat.

The individual fairs

Regarding LogiMat: 2022 attracted a large number of visitors, but was perhaps not quite the success for robotic arm suppliers that many had expected. This year, Denso, F&P Robotics and igus, who represented the arm manufacturers last year, are missing. In attendance will be mobile device suppliers such as Agilox, Bershire Grey, as well as Locus Robotics (are they looking to enter our market now?), Innok Robotics and ABB. ABB, as an integrated robot manufacturer, has both arms and mobile units to offer. What will be shown is not known. Beckhoff will be there for that.

Hannover Messe seems to benefit unchanged from its reputation. It is striking that Chinese arm manufacturers such as Aubo, Dobot, Han's Robots, JAKA will be present at it. It remains to be seen if FESTO will promote the pneumatic robot there. Interesting that Robotnik (United Robotics Group has been majority shareholder for a few weeks) will exhibit on its own under its own name.

The Chinese present in Hanover are absent from automatica, as is Elite Robots. The company was an automatica exhibitor in 2022. F&P Robotics is also no longer present. Its former sales manager stood rather passively at the booth, which was, however, also located on the periphery, and has since changed industries. Doosan is not yet listed. In previous years, the Koreans always had large and loud (drums) booths, but no market follow-up. Robco is also not listed, but exhibits at all about automation.

		LogiMat	Hann. fair	automatica
1	ABB	x		x
2	Agile Robots AG			x
3	Agilox Service	x		x
4	Aubo		x
5	Baumüller		x
6	Beckhoff (Atro!)	x	x	x
7	Berkshire Grey	x
8	Bosch Rexroth	x	x	x
9	Comau			x
10	Denso			x
11	Dobot		x
12	Doosan Robotics
13	Epson
14	FANUC Germany GmbH			x
15	FESTO		x	x
16	F&P Robotics
17	Franka Emika			x
18	fruitcore robotics			x
19	Han's Robotics		x
20	Hyundai Robots
21	igus		x	x
22	Innok Robotics	x		x
23	Isochronic
24	JAKA		x
25	Kassow Robotics			x
26	Kawasaki Robotics			x
27	KUKA			x
28	Locus Robotics	x
29	Magazino	x		x
30	Mecademic			x
31	Nachi			x
32	Neura Robotics			x
33	Omron			x
34	Rethink Robotics
35	Robotnik		x	x
36	Stäubli	x	x	x
37	Techman			x
38	United Robotics Group			x
39	Universal Robots			x
40	Yaskawa		x	x

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