ABB Robotics’ Marc Segura Talks AI and the Future of Robotic Automation
Why this article is worth reading:
- Insights on how AI is transforming robotics applications, from autonomous mobile robots using visual SLAM technology to robots working in unstructured environments and handling unfamiliar objects.
- A look into robotics continuing expansion into diverse sectors including medical technology and drug discovery, construction, food service and agriculture.
- Context about the market dynamics and rationale behind separating ABB Robotics from ABB’s other industrial operations business.
Automation World (AW) had the opportunity to connect with Marc Segura (MS), president of ABB Robotics, at the Automate 2025 event. We discussed where manufacturers’ interest in robotics is trending today, the technologies that will have the most impact on robotics in the near-term and ABB’s spin-off its robotics division.
AW: Looking at the advance of robotics technology over the past few years, what applications in manufacturing are getting the most interest?
MS: You could say that modern robotics were born and raised in the automotive industry, given that industry's history with robots. But the use of robotics here plateaued some time ago. However, with the advance of electric cars, this is completely changing as all automotive manufacturing processes are being challenged in response.
Beyond the auto industry, we've also seen a big push for other industry segments to adopt robots. In 2009 we started seeing it with consumer electronics. And now, of course, with the drive to increase use of AI, robots are being used to help build data centers and all the servers that do the large language model processing — that's an area of big demand at the moment.
Robots are also expanding into med tech and biotech. This has led to our partnerships with companies like Mettler Toledo, Agilent Technologies and Roche to build roboticized laboratories that contribute to the advancement of new drug discoveries. With generative AI at work here, new molecules can be proposed every second. But you still need the physical, robotic lab to actually produce and measure the products and provide feedback to AI. That’s how robots and AI are helping to lower the cost of new drug discovery, so that diseases that would otherwise not be treated will be able to be treated.
Another major area of interest deals with robots’ ability to work in unstructured spaces and deal with objects they've never encountered before, using cameras and AI. We are now at the point where we can deploy these robot technologies at scale.
We’re also doing more work in construction, which is a heavily unsustainable business with lots of waste. We are helping a bunch of startups and large construction companies to industrialize housing, to have factories that build houses that can be shipped for final assembly on site. We’re doing it with timber, steel and concrete, but we’re still very much at the beginning of robotics use in construction.
And then there’s the food industry. For example, we’ve been working with BurgerBots in Los Angeles. Plus there are the advances with robot use in agriculture, where we’re automating how we plant, grow, weed and harvest everything.
Robotics is conquering new segments every year. But we're not driven by the hype. We're driven by all the experiences of bringing robotics into industry. Even so, I would say robotics is still in its infancy, especially when it comes to the integration of AI with robots. I really believe that the single most important thing in robotics for the near-term future will be AI-controlled robots.
AW: What other technology advances do you think have had the most impact on robotics in the next couple of years.
MS: While there will be some key mechatronic developments I expect to see, I don’t think will be disruptive. But I do think we’ll be seeing important advances with mobile robotics as industry moves aways from the old AGVs (automated guided vehicles).
With intelligent, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), the most important elements are control and sensing. We’re doing that with visual SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping), where we use cameras to map where the robots are at any point. This gives the AMRs a lot of autonomy, enabling factories to be very flexible, because you can basically route the products where you want. We're now starting to see these AMRs deployed at scale.
And I want to come back to AI again, here, because it is key to the autonomous future of robots. For example, we’re starting to see more robotic picking applications in unstructured environments being deployed at scale. The next wave will be autonomous programming of the robot. We will move away from programming to instructing the robots. We can already talk to a robot using natural language. Next, they will start to understand their environment through sensors, listening to us and even reading bills of processes from which they can make a plan and execute on it.
Despite these expected advances, there's still a lot that robots can’t do, especially in terms of dexterity. A lot of work remains to be done to integrate more force control, more force sensing, besides visual sensing, and how it all coordinates together. I expect that to happen the next few years.
AW: The rise of cobots over the past decade has been a big story. But we’ve also seen interest in smaller industrial robots outfitted with safety devices to make them operate more collaboratively. Is this affecting preferences for cobots versus collaborative industrial robots?
MS: We haven’t really seen this. We have industrial robots with added collaborative capabilities, be we are not seeing interest in this picking up as much as with cobots. Because when you want the best high-speed, high-capacity performance, you’ll likely want an industrial robot and you’ll have fencing for it. When the application is meant to be collaborative with a robot, then cobots are the more suitable option.
AW: How is ABB working with industry to address workforce concerns about the growing use of robotics?
MS: The key is training — a lot of training. Not just technical training, but training to help workers really understand what it means to automate a company. We offer this via instructor-led and online interactive sessions through our ABB Robotics Training.
AW: What’s your take on ABB spinning off its robotics division.
(Editor’s note: ABB announced in April that it plans to spin off its robotics division in Q2 2026 with the division to be traded as a separately listed entity. Shares in the new company will be distributed to ABB investors as a dividend. According to a Reuters report on this announcement, ABB Robotics is “the world's second-biggest industrial robot maker after Japan's Fanuc Corp.”)
MS: We believe this is a great opportunity to create a lot of value for ABB and for ABB Robotics, because we are a strong robotics company — one of the few that sustainably delivers double-digit profitability. Another reason for the spin-off is that our synergies with the rest of the ABB group were limited. We operate with different customers, and the pace with which we need to interact with new technologies and startups and the need to invest in R&D is diverging more and more. This move allows us to be a pure play investment for robotics.
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