January 30th, 2025
3 min read
Even with the worldwide robotics market already projected to reach $147 billion by 2025, the potential of robotics is about more than simple automation. It’s about making machines smarter, faster and more capable of interacting with the world in real-time.
To achieve this, the field of robotics needs to evolve beyond its current capabilities. That means moving from stationary, repetitive tasks to performing complex, human-like decision-making in dynamic environments. One key technology driving this transformation is photonics, coupled with edge computing.
The Robotics Challenge
Robotics today is limited to straightforward, repetitive tasks, often in controlled environments like factory floors or warehouses. While robots can perform these tasks with great precision, the real potential of robotics lies in its ability to adapt to unpredictable, real-world situations.
In order to become more like humans, with the ability to react in real time to environmental changes and learn from their surroundings, robots need to operate within a high-speed infrastructure. They also need to be able to process data locally, rather than through a distant data center, which is where edge computing comes in.
Robotics and Photonics
Traditional computing, based on electronic circuits, is rapidly approaching its limits in terms of speed, power efficiency and processing capacity. For robots to make real-time decisions, especially in complex environments, they need far more computing power than the current electronics-based infrastructure can provide.
Photonics, which leverages the speed and efficiency of optical technology for processing and data transmission, offers a solution. Photonic networks can drastically reduce latency, which is the delay between receiving data and acting on it. This is one of the most critical factors in robotics. Whether it’s an autonomous vehicle avoiding an obstacle or a robot in a factory performing precise assembly tasks, milliseconds matter. Traditional electronic systems struggle to meet the stringent speed requirements of real-time robotics applications. Photonics, on the other hand, enables ultra-fast data processing and communication, making low-latency decision-making possible.
Photonics also plays an important role in reducing power consumption. Traditional electronics require significant amounts of power for processing and transmitting data, whereas photonic systems use much less energy, allowing for faster, more efficient processing – with the added benefit of environmental sustainability.
The Role of Edge Computing in Robotics
For robotics to advance, it will be important to have artificial intelligence (AI) at the “edge” of the network, to make instant decisions without waiting for data to travel back and forth to a centralized system. That means the robot itself needs to have the computing power to process data locally and make decisions autonomously. Whether in a factory, a hospital, a construction site or a processing plant, robots will need to analyze sensory data, make decisions and take action instantly.
Photonics plays a crucial role in enabling this vision, as it allows these devices to handle vast amounts of data efficiently, even in power-constrained environments. Take, for example, an autonomous robot working in a hazardous environment, like a chemical plant or a mine. The robot needs to analyze its surroundings, detect potential threats and make split-second decisions. With the help of photonics-based edge computing, this robot can process data faster, more efficiently and with much lower power consumption than traditional electronic systems would allow.
The Future of Robotics
Looking to the future, the key to achieving more human-like robots lies in the integration of AI and edge computing, powered by photonics. Enabling robots to process information locally, at the speed of light, opens up new possibilities across industries, from manufacturing and healthcare to transportation and defense.
As the demand for faster, more efficient, and power-conscious robotics grows, photonics will be essential in helping to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
