RoboMasters: Level Up Your Robotics Skills with ABB’s App

ABB has released a user-friendly, app-based robotic training tool, RoboMasters, enabling flexible, self-paced learning for workers learning as novices to seasoned robotics professionals. The app was produced as a solution to the skills gap challenge facing industrial facilities the world over. Now, ABB provides the RoboMasters app to help grow and reinforce employee skills in robotics.

ABB turns its attention to the future robotics tech-focused workforce, releasing the RoboMasters app for personalized, remote, gamified learning. Image used courtesy of ABB

The Rise in Robotics

The International Federation of Robotics reported over 4 million robots installed in factories worldwide in 2023, a 10% increase from 2022. Despite initial hesitations in adopting robotics and automation technologies–knowledge required to install and operate the technologies, interoperability with existing facility tech, and the high initial cost of investment–companies across the globe are finding ways to evolve, adapting and enhancing their products and services to keep pace in this digital age.

Installations of robotics technologies in the Americas exceeded 50,000 units for the third consecutive year. A sizable 55,389 units were installed in 2023, only 1% below the previous year's record level.

The Retirement Crisis and Skills Shortage

In February last year, Forbes drew attention to the baby boomer retirement crisis and the displacement of senior members of the U.S. workforce because of the strain brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. In Deloitte’s analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we gleaned the potential impact of the lack of a skilled U.S. workforce, leaving a whopping 1.9 million job roles unfilled in manufacturing.

A bar chart displaying the number of industrial robots installed worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Image used courtesy of World Robotics 2024

This might seem daunting for the future of the U.S. economy, but there are solutions to the rise in robotics technologies and the skills required to operate and maintain them. Industrial manufacturing and commercial companies are partnering with technical colleges and universities, creating a talent pool and growth ecosystem and facilitating the growth of a robust and resilient smart manufacturing ecosystem.

Manufacturers are endeavoring to deploy smart, dynamic scheduling management solutions to provide shift visibility for workers, which is intended to lessen concerns about non-flexible working arrangements. Manufacturers are also changing their mindset and taking an employee-centric approach. This entails identifying current and existing skills amongst their employees, nurturing and growing them with re-skilling and upskilling to ensure career progression. This approach, showing workers their capabilities, supporting them, and nurturing their career goals, encourages worker retention and builds a healthy workspace culture.

ABB’s RoboMasters Training App

ABB is targeting a key hurdle facing companies wishing to onboard and deploy robotics technologies: an accessible, cost-effective way of training employees to be able to operate and maintain them. The app provides essential skills training outside of the classroom, providing a user-friendly interface for individual, self-paced learning for beginners and advanced learners. By delivering an app-based approach, learning becomes mobile and cost-effective without the need to attend expensive physical, face-to-face training sessions.

ABB has designed the app to respond to and engage with users as if they were playing a game, offering competitions, rewards, ranking, and the ability to set achievable targets.

RoboMasters app is a robust training platform for on-the-go, collaborative learning, allowing users to learn from a mobile device at their own pace and skill level. Video used courtesy of ABB

ABB currently has 40 training centers providing training to more than 25,000 individuals a year. The RoboMasters app is intended to augment this physical training, giving users a chance to learn and grow at their own speed and with their own goals in mind. This open and flexible way of learning is likely to make skills acquisition engaging and fun, empowering employees to grow their robotics technology knowledge and support their career development.

Individuals can learn in their own language (with 50 optional languages to choose from), and learning materials are provided as simulations, problem-solving tasks, and challenges to enhance and embed learning. Users also have access to tips-and-tricks videos, a community function for engaging in discussions, and feeds.