COVID-19 Impact on Cleaning Robot in Semiconductors and Electronics Industry
ANALYSIS ON IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE MARKET
The pandemic started with its epicenter in China in 2019 and has been continuously spreading by then to all over the world, so far 216 countries and territories have been affected with Covid-19, the U.S. being on the top with cases reaching about 4.38 million, followed by Brazil, India and then by many European countries such as Russia, Spain, Italy, and others. The COVID-19 cases reaching to the big named countries with strong dominance in the global market which has adversely affected the economy globally. The spread of the coronavirus has led to the global recession, many companies are being bound to take stringent actions of laying off their employees, small businesses are being shut, and manufacturing facilities are being put on hold. There has been a disruption in the supply chain of many industries due to restrictions in logistics and the closing of manufacturing facilities. In addition, the slowdown in the economy has lowered the spending capability of individuals and people are saving money for emergencies. However, now almost in every country, the factories are started to reopen by taking some prevention such as 20% -50% employees on the field, social distancing, extreme hygiene measures, and others to support the economy. It is supporting the economy and helping to lower the recession rate at a certain level.
COVID-19 highly impacted the personal and domestic cleaning robots market due to the recession gripping the world and a decline in disposable income, the demand for personal and domestic robots declined. Also, the behavior of the individuals has certainly changed in the pandemic, people are now more concerned about their health and spending for future use due to incurred losses which lead to a decrease in the sale of cleaning robots. However, cleaning robots have a huge demand in the healthcare sector. During the time of social distancing, hospitals are demanding mobile robots integrated with UV-C light disinfection equipment to sanitize the wards and rooms to minimize any physical contact.
For instance,
In June 2020, According to the founder and chairman of Milagrow Robots, there has been a huge surge in demand for floor and window cleaning robots. The total sale is expected to be 300,000 to 400,000 cleaning robots in 2020 when compared to 10,000 cleaning robots in 2019.

IMPACT ON DEMAND
The behavior of the individuals has certainly changed in the pandemic, people are now more concerned about their health. The government is also working on research and development to develop a vaccine and avoid any further pandemic as such. The government is using augmented and virtual reality for the known disasters which can help in reducing the effects of the disaster.
The pandemic has boosted the digital transformation of industries, companies are focusing more on a digital platform to interact with their clients and customers. The pandemic has brought a huge demand for cleaning robots to ensure safety as COVID-19 has put cleaning and disinfection front and center in facility maintenance and at other places. Huge adoption of technology, automation, and smart buildings is gradually increasing the scope of growth for the cleaning robot market.

IMPACT ON SUPPLY CHAI
The pandemic has brought a huge impact on the supply chain of the cleaning robot market. The logistics and transportation of assets deteriorated a lot. The supply chain was adversely affected as the lockdown prevailed in many regions globally, the government has limited the workers. Companies are making their operations work according to the government regulations by making limited workers work in different shifts. The supply chain is experiencing disruption in Chinese parts exports, large-scale manufacturing interruptions across Europe, and the closure of assembly plants in the U.S. The manufacturers were facing a shortage of raw material, shifting of production to other countries, liquidity crunch to delays in availability of models, and deferred launches. However, now there is an improvement in the supply chain as most of the facilities and travel restrictions have opened and working in most optimum capacity.

STEPS TAKEN BY MANUFACTURERS DURING COVID-19 SITUATION
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to expand, makers would possibly face challenges on varied fronts. Producing firms would be searching for immediate measures to stay their workforces safe and their businesses solvent. Makers would conjointly have to be compelled to look on the far side of their economic viability. Because the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies, makers would possibly face continued downward pressure on demand, production, and revenues. They would continuously face cash-flow liquidity challenges and difficulties in managing debt obligations.
The pandemic may drive the enhancement of automation, digitalization, and artificial intelligence (AI) in almost all sectors. In a situation like social distancing automation and robotics could reduce dependence on human labor and increase productivity, preventing the chances of losses. The pandemic has boosted the growth of healthcare industries. As people need to maintain physical distancing, manufacturers can gain the advantage of this norm to address the mass public in hospitals and crowded places. Manufacturers were engaged in product development with advanced technologies, partnerships, and collaborations to gain a competitive advantage in the market.
For instance,
In January 2021, SAMSUNG announced the launch of new AI-powered robotic vacuum and laundry products. The new JetBot 90 AI+ features smart technologies that optimize the cleaning route and respond to its environment. The JetBot 90 AI+ is the world’s first smart robotic vacuum that helps to automate home cleaning in these Covid times
In December 2020, LG Electronics announced the launch of the autonomous robot with disinfecting UV light for various B2B applications. This robot uses ultraviolet (UV-C) light to disinfect high-touch, high-traffic areas and is designed for hospitality, education, corporate, retail, restaurant, and transportation customers to reduce exposure to harmful bacteria and germs

CONCLUSION
As the Covid-19 prevails the cleaning robot market has witnessed a gradual increase in the demand for cleaning robots and services. Most of the manufacturing facilities were closed bringing down the production of cleaning robots which leads to disruption in the supply chain. However, as the markets are getting digitally transformed and people are being more reliable on digital sources the market seems to be growing. Organizations operating under this market were building up new strategies to maintain all the safety measures at facilities and focusing on technological up-gradation to boost the growth of the market. Even after the pandemic automation of industries will continue to increase which acts as a major driver for the market. Growing demand from the healthcare, media & entertainment, and retail sector will act as a major boosting factor for the growth of the market in this pandemic.