By Bob Trebilcock· March 28, 2022

The last major live event I attended was Modex in March 2020. I will never forget walking off the first leg of the fight home from Atlanta into the Baltimore airport. It was around 9 PM on a Wednesday night, the gate monitors were tuned to CNN, and as I entered the terminal, the president was announcing a national emergency. Before my flight to New Hampshire boarded, Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson announced that they were both COVID-positive and the NBA postponed the season. That weekend, nearly every business in the little town in New Hampshire where I live shut down.

It’s been a long two years.

Yesterday, Sunday, I walked the show floor to say hello to old friends and get a sense of what to expect at Modex 2022. The energy on the show floor was high, the enthusiasm is back and while everyone I spoke to is holding their collective breaths, folks are optimistic. MHI, the show’s producers, are estimating solid numbers. 

So, what will I be watching? Based on my walkthrough, here are a couple of things I’ll be watching.

Robots, robots and more robots: At nearly every booth I walked passed where you would expect to see materials handling automation on display, there was a robot. And, while I would not have thought it possible, I’m continuing to see new entrants into the robotics space.

Robotics 2.0: Most of the new entrants are point solution robots. Like Locus and 6 River, they send a bot with a tote from one pick location to another and then to an induction point for packing. There’s nothing wrong with that. Locus, 6 River and other early entrants kicked off the current robot wave with point solutions. But, now, my colleague Roberto Michel and I are watching what we dubbed Robotics 2.0, which is the creation of end-to-end solutions bringing together multiple robotics solutions, or robots and other types of automation. A prime example of this was Locus’s acquisition of Waypoint Robotics, which vastly expands what Locus can do, but I noticed partnership announcements, such as the one from HAI Robotics, the Chinese robot maker, and Tompkins Robotics, as well as a display at Plus One Robotics booth touting a partnership with Tompkins. Put multiple technologies together, and you create a more complete solution with the potential for more efficiency.

Chinese Automation: This week, I’m meeting with a U.S.-based business development executive who represents 10 Chinese automation and robotics providers with plans to enter the U.S. market in the next 12 months. And, Roberto and I are increasingly contacted by Chinese automation companies with reported revenue of more than $200 million who we’ve never heard of for inclusion in our Top 20 System Suppliers list. Now, those companies aren’t presently operating in the U.S., but they are selling projects outside of China. What will the impact be on our market is too early to tell, but we’ll be watching it.

More Private Equity: I remain impressed with – and don’t know what to make of – the amount of money pouring into the space from the private equity sector, and have no idea how much longer it will last. But, just this past week we saw new announcements about the acquisition of companies in the space from PE investors.

For now, it’s off to the Georgia World Congress Center, where Roberto and I will be reporting throughout the week.