The Future of Robotics in the Broadband Industry

There are three areas when robotics are being used and can be used in the broadband industry. The first area of usage is the repair of undersea fiber optic cables. The advantages with the robots and the next generation of robots is that robots can be deployed and have no time limit regarding the amount of time underwater. They don’t need air or are affected by water pressure. Because of their advantages over humans, I can foresee “water-based robot tents” that house robots that can instantly be deployed to reduce the downtown of the repair. An autonomous robot would drive the repair robots to the vicinity the repair and can return in a few hours or days, to pick up the robot when the conditions are better are more profitable.

The autonomous robot would be running 24/7 driving humans, parts, laying sea equipment (even at night), etc. This robots would replace workers and add 1 or 2 new shift of workers per every 24 hour shift.

Future of Robotics

Another area where robots will be deployed in broadband will be in countries without a broadband infrastructure. A mesh network of robots would be deployed throughout a specific geography to provide the near bye communities with instantaneous broadband. There is no delay in providing services. A robot army of broadband robots can provide the poorest regions of the world with lowest latency and highest uptime.

Once key aspect is to remember that not all robots are humanoid. The largest amount of innovations will come from robots whose shape dictate its appropriateness for the task it is given. For non-human tasks, a non-human shape will always be better because form follows function.

Lastly, drone and robot based broadband providers will be very popular in closing the digital divide.

Thomas F. Anglero
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