The installed base of service robots reached 29.6 million worldwide at the end of 2016, and the installed base of active service robots worldwide is expected to reach 264.3 million by 2026, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24 per cent, according to a new research report from Berg Insight.

The global service robot market is dominated by three segments that together accounted for a majority of the global installed base at the end of 2016, said a statement.

The largest segment in terms of installed base is the floor cleaning robot segment, which alone accounted for 80 per cent of total at the end of 2016 with an estimated 23.8 million units, it said.

The other two large segments include the UAV segment as well as the robot lawn mower segment, which are estimated to have reached installed bases of around 4.0 million and 1.6 million units respectively at the end of 2016, it added.

Moreover, 0.1 million AGVs and 0.05 million milking robots are estimated to have been active at the end of 2016. The remaining segments including humanoid robots, assistant robots and companion robots, telepresence robots, powered human exoskel etons, surgical robots and autonomous mobile robots are all estimated to have had less than 50,000 units installed each at the end of 2016.

The growing interest and rapid development in service robotics in recent years is much due to the many innovative and successful start-ups active on the market. Large companies are also increasingly investing in robotics, either through in-house R&D investments or via acquisitions of start-ups.

Egil Edvardsen, IoT analyst, Berg Insight, said: “Service robots are clearly on the rise in everyday environments.”

“Already today, domestic service robots help individuals in their homes to clean the floors and windows, mow the lawn and water the garden. In a not too distant future, we can expect domestic robots of even higher sophistication and capability, such as assistive robots for supporting the elderly, for helping with additional household chores and for entertainment and education,” he said.
 
Robotics in professional applications has already had a significant impact in areas such as agriculture, healthcare, logistics and public relations and is growing in economic importance.

Carl Jonsson, IoT analyst, Berg Insight, said: “Robotic exoskeletons help elderly and disabled people to restore body functions and enable them to remain active in society.”

“In hospitals, innovative robots support doctors to perform safer and less invasive surgeries. Autonomous robots transport goods and parcels in manufacturing plants and logistics centres,” he said.

“Unmanned aerial vehicles can autonomously gather useful data for a variety of industries such as agriculture,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service