The market for professional service robots is growing and has reached a turnover of US$6.7 billion (up by 12%) in 2020. According to a report presented by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), sales of professional service robots rose an impressive 41% to 131,800 units in 2020. “Service robots continued on a successful path proving the tremendous market potential worldwide,” said Milton Guerry, president of IFR.
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred the demand globally. The five top application trends for professional service robots are transportation and logistics, professional cleaning, medical robotics, hospitality, and agriculture.
The rise of ‘hospitality robots’
The report revealed that hospitality robots are enjoying growing popularity and generating a turnover of $249 million. There is still a considerable potential for hospitality robots with medium double-digit annual growth predicted. Data shows that demand for robots for food and drink preparation grew tremendously, and the turnover almost tripled to $32 million (+196%). The COVID-19 pandemic created increased awareness to avoid contact with food products said IFR.
IFR said with several start-up companies appearing every year, developing innovative service robot applications and improving existing concepts will continue. “Some of these young companies disappear as quickly as they emerged,” Guerry explained. “The activity remained high in the service robotics space with acquisitions by incumbents and acquisitions by companies from industries with a desire to expand and work in this exciting area.”
The federation said that 80% of service robot suppliers worldwide are incumbents. Additionally, 47% of the service robot suppliers are from Europe, 27% from North America and 25% from Asia. (Image from Unsplash)
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