Small But Powerful Processor Designs May Go Head-to-Head in Robots, According to ABI Research

Business Wire, August 26, 2008

NEW YORK -- Application processor vendors fight for their share of the large mobile handset space. There is an x86 versus ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) battle taking place in the ultra-mobile device (UMD) market. A similar fight could be on the horizon of the market for robots and robotic devices.

Most of the money for robotics goes into the military and space exploration segments today, but according to ABI Research the consumer market will be the largest robotics segment over the long term.

"The challenge in personal robotics engineering," explains ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis, "is keeping costs low. Part of that is to fit complex software into as small an ARM processor as possible, with even lower-cost ARM processors handling subsystems of the robot."

An alternate way to get more processing power at little to no cost is to use a nearby PC to act as an external "brain," communicating with the robot via Wi-Fi. However this PC would have to be actively running whenever the robot was in use, which could be impractical or undesirable. Complete autonomy for the robot is preferable, and for that, powerful yet low-cost processors are needed.

"We could see x86-based processors such as Intel's Atom competing against various ARM-based solutions," says Solis. "These processors are on their way to ramping up in mobile devices and in home consumer electronics, and will be applicable to lower-cost personal robotics as well. As shipments of such processors' grow, their falling prices would make them increasingly attractive. We would likely see very small, lower-power x86 processors used as the main processors, alongside ARM processors."

ABI Research's recent report, Personal Robotics (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/market_research/Personal_ Robotics), covers the market for consumer robots and major components used by personal robots. It examines key industry drivers in the robotics space and in software development platforms that will become critical to the development of this market.

It is part of the firm's Emerging Technologies Research Service (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Emerging_Technologies_ Research_Service), which also includes other Research Reports, ABI Insights, and analyst inquiry support.

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ABI Research is a leading market research firm focused on the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets. Utilizing a unique blend of market intelligence, primary research, and expert assessment from its worldwide team of industry analysts, ABI Research assists hundreds of clients each year with their strategic growth initiatives. For information, visit www.abiresearch.com, or call 1.516.624.2500.