Artificial intelligence (AI), fifth-generation (5G), the Internet of Things and other emerging technologies remain at the core of the megatrends shaping technological and industrial development up to 2025.

The convergence of these technologies is forging “a world of new experiences and productivity”, with megatrends such as home robot adoption and smart assistant use rates forming part of information and communication technology (ICT) giant Huawei’s latest ‘Global Industry Vision’ (GIV)report.

“Human exploration will never stop. We should set our sights beyond what we see now and look to the future, shifting from innovation to invention,” says Huawei ICT Infrastructure chief marketing officer Kevin Zhang.

The report outlines how advances in material science, perceptual AI and network technologies are powering the uptake of smart, sophisticated and versatile robotics in a variety of home, personal and business scenarios.

Increasingly, connected, networked and function-rich robots are creating a ‘blue ocean’ that will be worth billions of dollars to the ICT industry.

The report predicts that, by 2025, about 470-million homes, or 14% of households worldwide, will have intelligent domestic robots or ‘butler bots’, quadrupling the 25-million shipments made in 2018 and creating a market worth $9-billion.

In addition, the number of smart nursing robots will increase from 6.2-million in 2017 to 23-million by 2025, with elderly care homes in the Group of Eight Countries, or G8, namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US, having an average of ten nursing robots.

In addition, Huawei predicts that industrial robots will work alongside people in manufacturing, with 103 robots for every 10 000 employees, by 2025.

“Already transforming many industries, smart automation will take on more hazardous, repetitive and high-precision tasks – a boon for safety and productivity,” Zhang says.

Meanwhile, the convergence of 5G, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), AI, machine learning and other emerging technologies continue to unlock the trend of ‘Super Sight’ – enabling sight beyond distance, surface, distortion and history.

The report predicts that, by 2025, 337- million people and 10% of companies will be using VR and AR.

The next prediction driven by the rapid advance of AI, intelligent devices and cloud applications is the concept of zero-search, which requires AI algorithms that are continuously trained using massive sets of user data.

“As data-driven and sensor-equipped appliances and devices begin anticipating our needs, information will find us. “Future searches will be button-free, personal social networks will be created effortlessly and industry will benefit from zero-search maintenance,” says Zhang.

The GIV report predicts that 90% of smart device owners will use intelligent personal assistants in the next six years.

The report further predicts that 97% of large companies will introduce AI into their business operations or management processes, while the total number of smartphones in use around the globe will reach about 6.1-billion.

AI and Big Data analytics will enable frictionless communications and provide companies with a clearer, more precise understanding of their customers at lower cost, as well as reduce error and misunderstandings by providing open and transparent information for all.

The report highlights that every company will be using cloud technology, 85% of business applications will be cloud-based and 97% of large companies will use AI.

The rapid roll-out of 5G will also play a significant role in the period to 2025.

Its biggest impact will not emerge from technical breakthroughs, but, instead, from how it enables industries to advance, with autonomous vehicles and VR and AR devices, along with cloud services and the development of new applications, becoming widespread following the roll-out of 5G.

By 2025, 2.8-billion people worldwide will be using 5G, with 6.5-million 5G base stations providing 5G access for 58% of the world’s population.