November 12, 2020

ROBOTS AS A SERVICE: A TECHNOLOGY TREND MAKING ITS WAY TO THE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY

Robots as A Service: A Technology Trend making its way to the oil & gas industry

Robots as a service (RaaS) is a rapid growing phenomenon. ABI research predicted there will be 1.3 million installations of RaaS by 2026 generating $ 34 billion in revenue. But what does robots as a service entail?

Robots as A Service: A Technology Trend making its way to the oil & gas industry

WHAT IS ROBOTS-AS-A-SERVICE (RAAS)?

The ‘as-a-service-concept’ is not new. Most are now familiar with software as a service (SaaS), it is a subscription-based service model. Robots as a service are no exception, those who sign up for RaaS get the benefits of robotics automation by leasing robotic devices and accessing a cloud-based subscription service without the purchase costs. The responsibilities and possible troubles of ownership are avoided with RaaS, so no paying off expensive equipment, no maintenance and service issues, no spare parts and no unexpected data communication costs.

WHY IS RAAS INCREASING ITS POPULARITY?

RaaS is intriguing because of its flexibility, scalability and lower cost of entry than traditional robotics programs. This allows businesses to benefit from robotics without the initial cost-prohibitive investment.

Typically, robots are used to replace monotonous jobs done by humans. But, since robots are expensive, it can take years before companies realize a return on their investment. This reality has kept many organizations from investing in robots. That’s one of the reasons RaaS is appealing today. RaaS also gives organizations the ability to scale up rapidly and easily in response to changing market conditions and client needs. It offers more predictable costs and less upfront capital to get started. Additionally, companies are already comfortable with the concept, thanks to many of them already using the SaaS model.

There are many companies in several industries that are benefitting from RaaS from warehouses and fulfillment centres to healthcare and security. As other sectors realize uses for robots, RaaS lowers the barrier to entry for them to test them out and experiment with robotic solutions. The oil & gas industry is one of these industries on the edge of implementation.

WHAT ARE THE PITFALLS OF RAAS?

As many technology providers make the shift away from selling products to selling services such as RaaS, there are still things to overcome such as the amount of customization of the hardware to make the robots useful for individual organizations with specific needs. So, although a base platform might be consistent across many entities, adaptations will be required for the robots leading to longer implementation windows that cost more. RaaS suppliers must have strong R&D departments and great collaboration with their partners and customers. RaaS is a powerful business model, but you can never lose sight of the customer needs. RaaS can be standardised, but you should be careful to not go overboard and lose the scope. When the service component is the top priority, RaaS will be the solution many organizations seek.

WHAT CAN EXROBOTICS DO?

We strongly believe robotics in oil & gas is the future. The industry will greatly benefit from the inspection and surveillance potential of ATEX / IECEx Zone 1 certified robots. We have a strong R&D department and our robots have a modular design for great customization. Though we are convinced robots are the way to further efficiency, safety and cost reduction, we are aware that the initial investment is not a small one. That is why we are embracing this evolution to Robots as a Service and will deliver our current and new robots as a service.

We have a strong alliance with Energy Robotics for our cloud solution and have many service partners worldwide such as Nexxis, Yokogawa and Stahl to make sure we can offer the services needed to implement robots in the oil & gas industry.

We are ready to deploy robots, are you?