Metropolitan areas with the highest volume of job listings for robotics skills during January:
1. Atlanta
2. Boston
3. Detroit
4. Chicago
5. Los Angeles
Source: Wanted Analytics
Job growth in the robotics industry is up sharply after a record year that saw $1.17 billion in North American robot sales, but the number of people with robotics skills is falling short of demand, experts said.
Yaskawa Motoman added 100 jobs nationally last year, including 43 at the robotics company’s Miamisburg headquarters, said Tim DeRosett, Motoman’s director of marketing.
“It certainly was a very strong year for us, and the outlook for 2012 continues to be strong,” he said.
President Barack Obama last June launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, a $500 million investment in emerging technologies to create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance the nation’s global competitiveness.
The administration’s plan included $70 million for a robotics initiative.
Last year, a total of 19,337 robots valued at $1.17 billion were sold to companies in North America, topping the previous record of 18,228 robots sold in 2005, according to the Robotic Industries Association, a trade group based in Ann Arbor, Mich. North American orders were up 47 percent in units and 38 percent in dollars from 2010.
“Robot suppliers and integrators told us they were running full-out to meet customer demand and one of the limiting factors was a shortage of qualified application engineers and other technical people needed to develop and integrate new applications,” said RIA President Jeff Burnstein.
During January, recruiters posted more than 2,100 online job ads for robotics skills, an increase of 44 percent compared to January 2011 and more than double the volume of online job ads in January 2010, according to Wanted Analytics, a recruiting data firm.
The majority of job listings were for engineering and technology positions, but there also is growing demand for systems integration, operations and maintenance workers.
The advanced manufacturing industry is having trouble finding college graduates with even basic robotics skills, said Raul Ordonez, a University of Dayton associate professor and director of the school’s Motoman Robotics Laboratory.
“The students who have these skills would be highly sought after,” he said.
UD’s School of Engineering last fall launched a robotics concentration for computer and electrical engineering students, who will graduate with the ability to work on robotics applications in an industrial setting, Ordonez said.
Wright State University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science offers a focus area in control and robotics engineering.
Sinclair Community College offers an associate degree in automation and control technology with robotics, as well as two short-term certificate programs.
“We believe that long-term robotics is a major growth industry,” Burnstein said.
Robots can help companies produce higher quality products with increased productivity and lower overall manufacturing costs, he said.
Experts attributed the rising demand for robots to new applications in the food, medical, pharmaceutical, aerospace and electronics industries, among others.
Motoman provides robots for automotive manufacturers and the heavy equipment construction sector, but “a larger part of our business is coming from these other areas, as well,” DeRosett said.
Motoman has 285 employees in Miamisburg, where in October it opened its new headquarters and main manufacturing facility, consolidating former operations in West Carrollton and Troy.
The Dayton region is home to a number of robotics and component companies, but qualified workers are becoming more difficult to find, DeRosett said.
“What we are looking for is a basic understanding of robotics and then we can train them and provide them with additional expertise and education on how we apply our particular robots,” he said.
UD opened the Motoman Robotics Laboratory in 2008 to train new engineers in applied robotics and develop robots that can better mimic human hand-eye coordination and precise arm and hand movements.
The lab houses six state-of-the-art industrial robots.
Motoman provided $370,000 in robotics equipment, and SAS Automation in Xenia donated $225,000 in hand tools for the robots.
Ordonez said many students are interested in pursuing a career in robotics.
Interest in last fall’s introductory course exceeded the capacity of 10 students. That number could be expanded to 15 in the future, “depending on our ability to handle them in the lab,” he said.
Students learn about robotics at a theoretical level, as well how to operate and program the robots.
Many of their projects involve having a robot find, track or pick up an object using computer vision.
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