1. Robotics
As per NASA (nasa.gov) robots are machines that can be used to do jobs. Some robots can do work by themselves. Other robots must always have a person telling them what to do.
As explained in Wikipedia, Robotics is an interdisciplinary field that integrates Computer Science and Engineering. Robotics involves Design, Construction, Operation, and use of Robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans.
Robotics integrates various fields of engineering such as Electronics, Software Engineering, Mechatronics, Bio Engineering as also Mathematics, among others.
Robotic arms on spacecraft are used to move very large objects in space. Spacecraft that visits other worlds are robots that can do work by themselves. People send them commands. The robots then follow those commands. This type of robot includes the Rovers that explore the surface of Mars.
Industry Uses
The following 6 industries that are using robotics in a significant way:
- Manufacturing
- Healthcare
- Agriculture
- Food Preparation
- Military
- Mining
The widest use of robotics can be found in Car Industry where some of hazardous jobs like welding and painting are done by robots. Robots are also used for moving heavy pieces other than performing some mundane repetitive tasks in the manufacturing process.
Of late, we can find use of much more sophisticated application of robotics in surgery in Healthcare industry.
In other industries like Food Processing or in Warehousing, whole lot of automation has been introduced through the use of robots.
More and more applications of robotics are being developed to make the manufacturing or other business processes more fast and efficient and at the same time labour saving.
Top Companies
As per builtin.com, the following are some of the prominent companies in robotics:
- Nuro
- CANVAS Technology
- Piaggio Fast Forward
- Diligent Robotics
- Boston Dynamics
- Bluefin Robotics
- Applied Aeronautics
- Left Hand Robotics
- Righthand Robotics
- Dronesense
- Harvest Automation
- Rethink Robotics
- Vicarious
Market Size
As per The Manomet Current (manometcurrent.com), the global market size will reach US dollar 26710 million by 2025, registering a CAGR growth of 4.9% in revenue terms.
Robotics is one of the major future industries.
Learning Resources
1. Introducing Robotic Process Automation by LinkedIn Learning (https://www.linkedin.com/learning/introducing-robotic-process-automation)
2. Drones
We are all aware of drones that are being used by Amazon to deliver parcels at the doorstep of the customers, in a limited way in some places.
Drones come in various shapes and sizes depending upon their function, usability and cost.
There are Micro Drones of the size of an insect, Small Drones up to the size of two metres, Medium Sized Drones that look a bit smaller than small aircrafts as also Large Sized Drones that look like small aircrafts that are primarily used by the military in high risk areas for both military and surveillance operations.
Their area of operation can also vary from a close range of 5 KMs to the mid range of 650 KMs.
Industry Uses
Drones are being used for Aerial Photography, in Agriculture for spraying pesticides, scaring away crop eating birds, in the Construction Industry to check on progress of the construction work etc., as Fun Sports for drone racing, by the Military, Aerial Delivery and Shipping, in Filming and Movies, in Fire Fighting, in Outdoor Sports, in operations requiring to reach difficult or high altitude places, in News and Journalism, as a substitute for physical human inspection of certain activities where drones are equipped with sensors, in Mapping and Mining Applications, in case of Medical Emergencies or even as an aid to perform Critical Surgeries, by the Law Enforcement Agencies etc.
Top Companies
As mentioned by Built In (builtin.com), following is the list of some well known drone manufacturers:
- Zipline
- Skydio
- Wing
- Propeller Aero
- Drone Dispatch
- Dedrone
- NVDrones
- DroneSeed
- Robodub
- AirMap
- Drone Deploy
Market Size
According to Mordor Intelligence (mordorintelligence.com), the drones market was valued at USD 20,245.78 million in 2020 and the market is projected to register a CAGR of 15.88% during the forecast period (2021-2026). It will be one of the fastest growing industries, in the next decade.
Learning Resources
As suggested by digitaldefynd (https://digitaldefynd.com/best-drone-courses/), following are the best 8 Drone Courses:
1. Learn the Importance of Autonomous Systems and Drones Technologies by University System of Maryland (edX)
2. Make an Open Source Drone (Udemy)
3. Drone Programming Primer for Software Development (Udemy)
4. Everything about Drones (DroneU)
5. Become a Certified Drone Pilot (Drone Pilot Ground School)
6. Drones: How to Tell Ariel Stories (Udemy)
7. Build a Linux Based Raspberry Pi Drone (Udemy)
8. The Complete Drone Business Course (Udemy)
3. Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is created through computer simulated three dimensional environment looked through special goggles with sensors, in a way that the environment looks and feels like as being real.
This technology is highly useful particularly in cases where real life experiment can be too dangerous or costly which can be substituted by way of creating a life like situation with the help of virtual reality.
Industry Uses
Virtual reality technology is already being used in the fields of Car Manufacturing, Healthcare, Training and Development, Retail, Tourism, Architecture, Real Estate, Entertainment, Recruitment, Sports, Art and Design, Education, Marketing, Recreation, Gambling, Law Enforcement, News and Journalism etc.
Top Companies
Here is a list of popular Virtual Reality Companies (softwaretestinghelp.com):
- iTechArt ( New York, USA)
- Oculus VR (California, USA)
- HTC (North Conway, USA)
- Samsung (Suwon, Korea)
- Microsoft (Washington, USA)
- Unity (San Francisco, USA)
- VironIT (San Francisco, USA)
- Alphabet/Google (California, USA)
- Next/Now (Chicago, USA)
- CemtrexLabs (New York, USA)
- Quytech (Gurugram, India)
- Groove Jones (Dallas, USA)
- Magic Leap (Florida, USA)
- Nvidia (Santa Clara, USA)
- AMD (Santa Clara, USA)
- WeVR (Santa Barabara, USA)
- WorldViz (Santa Barbara, USA)
- NextVR (Newport Beach, USA)
- Bigscreen (Berkeley, USA)
- Matterport (California, USA)
- Within (Los Angeles, USA)
Market Size
As per Grand View Research, the global virtual reality market size was valued at USD 15.81 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.0% from 2021 to 2028. It is one of the fastest growing industries of the future.
Learning Resources
1.Virtual Reality Courses for Beginners & Experts by LinkedIn Learning (linkedin.com/learning)
2. 8 Best Virtual Reality Courses, as suggested by digitaldefynd (digitaldefynd.com)
- The Unreal Engine C++ Developer Course – Learn C++ & Make Games
- Building your First VR Experience with Unity (Udemy)
- Unreal VR Dev: Make VR Experiences with Unreal Engine C++ (Udemy)
- Unreal Engine 4: Project Based VR Course for Arch Viz in UE4
- Complete C# Unity Developer 3D: Learn to Code Making Games (Udemy)
- Virtual Reality – VR Certification (App Development) (edX)
- React VR – Creating Virtual Reality Apps
- Build Virtual Reality Games for Android and iPhone
4. Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is a revolutionary technology that is expected to massively increase manufacturing production at reduced cost, can increase efficiency in energy consumption, help clean the environment and can resolve major health problems.
It is concerned with building materials and devices on the scale of atoms and molecules that may drastically change the character of the materials. For example, Carbon Nanotubes are hundred times stronger than steel but six times lighter.
Industry Uses
Some of the major products or areas where Nanotechnology is used are as follows:
1. Carbon nanotube body armour
2. Surface protecting material
3. Solar panel
4. Fortified foods
5. Titanium cosmetics
6. Packaging materials
7. Fabrics
8. Transdermal patches
9. Medicine
10. Surgery
11. Antimicrobial bandages
12. Detergents
13. Inflammable furniture
14. Adhesives
Top Companies
As suggested by built in, (https://builtin.com/companies/type/nanotechnology-companies), Top 3 Nano Technology Solutions Companies are:
- Dust Identity
- Tag-it Tech
- DeepCell Industries
Market Size
According to Intrado Globe News Wire (globenewswire.com), nanotechnology market size is expected to reach USD 290.93 Billion in 2028.
Career Options and Educational Requirements
Any career in Nano Technology would require some fair level of formal education.
For example, in the field of medicine, the medical scientists would need medical degree or a Ph.D or both. For food Scientists and Food Technologists, a bachelors degree in the concerned area is required. For the Electrical Engineers, a bachelor’s degree would be necessary.
Those who are interested in working in the field of Nanotechnology would also require to study Microbiology and Nanomaterials over the course of their studies.
Learning Resources
- Udemy, (udemy.com) – introductory short Foundational Courses.
- Nano@Stanford (https://online.stanford.edu) – Stanford School of Engineering – Free Online Course (Working knowledge of process technology and semiconductors is required).
- Nano Engineering, University of California San Diego (https://catalog.ucsd.edu/courses/NANO.html).
- Coursera – Nanotechnology: A Maker’s Course: (https://www.coursera.org/learn/nanotechnology).
- edX Course (edx.org): Introduction to the modern nanotechnology (https://www.edx.org/learn/nanotechnology).
- edX Course (edx.org): MicroMasters Program in Nanoscience and Technology by Purdue University.
- Future Learn: Short Course: Nanotechnology for Health: Innovative Designs for Medical Diagnosis by University of Twente (futurelearn.com).
5. Renewable Energy
Renewable energy sources are inexhaustible and naturally occurring or naturally replenishing but are available for limited period of time before they are again generated and replenished.
Industry Uses
Such renewable energy sources that are in use, are: Solar, Wind, Biomass, and Hydroelectricity.
Tapping energy coming from the depth of the earth which is called Geothermal energy, energy from Hydrogen and energy from the Ocean are now being explored.
All such energy sources are being used to produce electricity for our daily use.
Top Companies
As per Investopedia (investopedia.com), the following are the 10 biggest renewable energy companies in the world, with 12 month trailing (TTM) revenue, as on December 6, 2020.
- Orsted A/S: $34.97 billion
- Iberdrola SA: $34.23 billion
- Jinko Solar Holdings Co. Ltd.: $33.95 billion
- Vestas Wind Systems A/S: $15.2 billion
- Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA: $9.48 billion
- Brookfield Renewable Partners LP: $3.58 billion
- First Solar Inc.:$3.5 billion
- Canadian Solar Inc.: $3.36 billion
- Renewable Energy Group Inc.: $2.61 billion
- Sun Power Corp.: $1.39 billion
Market Size
According to the Allied market Research (alliedmarketresearch.com), The global renewable energy market was valued at $928.0 Billion in 2017, and is expected to reach $1,512.3 Billion by 2025, registering a CAGR of 6.1% from 2018 to 2025.
Learning Resources
1. Various renewable energy courses: Source: Keystone Academic Courses (https://www.academiccourses.com/Course-in-Energy-in-Doctoral-Training-Alliance/United-Kingdom/University-Alliance/).
2. Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/topic/renewable-energy/
3. Harvard University: Energy Within Environmental Constraints: Fee Online Course (https://online-learning.harvard.edu/subject/renewable-energy)
4. 10 Best Renewable Energy Courses, being offered by various reputed universities, as per The Nine Planets (https://nineplanets.org/guide/best-renewable-energy-courses/)
6. 3D Printing
According to 3dprinting.com, 3D printing or Additive Manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.
3D printed objects are created by way of using additive processes in which an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the object is created.
Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced cross-section (through slicing software) of the object being produced by this process, layer by layer.
Industry Uses
It can be a small object, any Consumer Product, any Industrial Product, a Prosthetic Limb or it can even be as large an object as a House!
The major uses of 3D printing are found generally in the Automotive Sector, Aviation, Construction, Jewelry, Healthcare, Dental, Consumer Products, Eyewear, Food, Education as also for Bio-Printing (creating or growing organs through building cell structures).
Top Companies
As per Market Watch (marketwatch.com), following are the major players in 3D printing:
1. Hewlett Packard Inc.
2. 3D Systems Corporation
3. Stratasys Ltd.
4. EOS GmbH
5. Renishaw
6. ExOne Co.
7. Beijing Tiertime Technology
8. Mcor Technologies
9. Nano Dimernsion Ltd.
10. Sisma S.P.A.
11. Xyzprinting
12. Proto Labs Inc.
13. SLM Solutions Group AB
14. Nano Dimension
15. Ultimaker B.V.
16. Royal DSM
17. General Electric Company (GE Additive)
Market Size
As per Grand view Research (grandviewresearch.com), the global 3D printing market size was valued at USD 13.78 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.0% from 2021 to 2028.
Learning Resources
- Udemy (udemy.com)
- Coursera (coursera.org)
- LinkedIn Learning (LinkedIn.com)
- Skillshare (skillshare.com)
- Instructables (instructables.com)
