All markets depend on automation of process, replacement of manual process with automated process, whether it be a movie or a SOA services engagement, people are willing to pay for automated process. The march toward automated process has been steady, accelerating with the introduction of the microprocessor computer. In the case of military ground robots, the thought of replacing ground soldiers, replacing infantry with robotic devices is a little scary because it represents such a significant change in the status quo.
The new technology that drives markets is only adopted as it is offered at a price point that is acceptable to the market. Military ground robots have achieved an acceptable level of trials where they have proved their success. This story is detailed in the separate study on Military Ground Robots Market Strategies, Shares And Forecasts. In the context of market shifts automated process has had a steady march towards automation.
The Military Robots study from WGR has been selling briskly worldwide. The economic factors that drive markets are two fold:
1. Successful trials
2. Need to achieve competitive advantage or respond to competitive threats
Both of these are directly driving the market for military robots.
The challenge to the military organizations around the world is that robots used by the infantry have the capability to change the nature of warfare dramatically. Two questions that emerge are: is the technology ready for widespread use and are the price points for units affordable. The price points are driven lower by economies of scale.
The competitive channeling of the challenge becomes to protect the borders of any nation. National boundaries can be defended in a new and more effective manner with the military ground robots, but these defensive strategies depend on significant investment in technology. They also depend on a realignment of traditional military organizations with all branches of the military working cooperatively to implement military ground robots.
Market Aspects Profiled
- Unmanned Transport Vehicles That Perform Major Military Functions
- EOD Teams And Combat Engineers
- Improvised Explosive Device Situations (IED)
- Military Robots That Enter Buildings And Search For Chemical And Biological Weapons (Chem Search)
- Infantry
- Mules Autonomously Carry Loads For Soldiers
- Small Reconnaissance Robots, Designed To Enter Buildings And Send Back Pictures To Soldiers
- Battlefields -- Remotely Controlled Armed Robots Were Sent To Iraq, But Have Not Seen Action