As autonomous cars begin to hit world markets in pilot tests and other ways, and before the International Federation of Robotics clarifies whether those vehicles are robots or not, two research firms have combined those vehicles with other robots. Their results are highlighted in yellow below.

The question as to whether autonomous vehicles are robots – or whether drones are remote-control vehicles and not robots – will be addressed by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) later this year in a workshop and series of press releases. Click here for a link that discusses these issues.

The number of research reports covering the robotics industry has grown exponentially in the last few years. 109 have been previewed on The Robot Report thus far in 2016. The latest batch of 46 shown below brings the Y-T-D total to 155. Even though multiple vendors produce reports on the same topics, almost all show double digit growth. [Here are links to the previous two recaps: [1, 2].]

Robotics market forecasts

August 2016, 24 pages and 248 charts, Tractica, $4,200

Tractica, by categorizing autonomous vehicles as service robots, estimates that 2016 industrial robots will drop to 41% of total robotics revenue, with the remaining 59% coming from non-industrial robots. The non-industrial service robots sector largely consists of consumer robots, enterprise robots, military robots, autonomous vehicles and supporting components, and UAVs. The combined global robotics industry will expand from $34.1 billion in 2016 to $226.2 billion by 2021, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46%.

Global driverless car components market

August 2016, Allied Analytics, $3,792

The component market servicing the driverless car market is comprised of radar sensors; video cameras; LiDAR sensor; ultrasound sensors and a central computing system. Companies profiled include Google, Inc.; Daimler AG; Ford Motor Company; Toyota Motor Corporation; BMW AG; Audi AG ; AB Volvo ; Dutch Automated Vehicle Initiative (DAVI); Autonomous Lab; and Volkswagen.

Robotics: technologies and markets

June 2016, 239 pages, BCC Research, $6,650

The global robotics market reached nearly $24.9 billion in 2015. The market should reach over $25.9 billion and $31.5 billion in 2016 and 2021 respectively, increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.0% from 2016 to 2021.

Global Robotics R&D spending

July 2016, 55 pages, TechNavio, $2,500

The analysts forecast the global R&D spending market in the robotics industry to grow at a CAGR of 17.29% during the period 2016-2020.

Global cloud robotics

August 2016, 140 pages, Occams Business Research, $3,900

Rising internet and cloud infrastructure, rapid progress of wireless technology and rapid development of software frameworks and services for computational, storage, and communications infrastructure of modern data centers are the major drivers for the cloud robotics globally.

Artificial intelligence market forecasts

August 2016, 23 pages and 332 charts, Tractica, $4,200

Forecasts that annual worldwide AI revenue will grow from $643.7 million in 2016 to $38.8 billion by 2025. Tractica has created a taxonomy of 191 real-world use cases for AI, organized into 27 different industry sectors and corresponding with six major technology categories, plus multiple combinations of technologies.

Global commercial drones

May 2016, Orion Market Research, $3,495

Global commercial drones market is expected to grow at an exponentially high CAGR of 41% for the forecasted period of 2016-2021.

The future of commercial drones: an appraisal

August 2016, 101 pages, Valour Consultancy, $4,589

An analysis on the applications for which UAV’s have currently been used and an extensive list of potential uses which represent future sources of service revenues. Also UAV frames, power trains, control and communications and future instrumentation packages are also examined.

Commercial and military drone market

August 2016, 90 pages, Mind Commerce, $1,995

The global drone market is anticipated to reach $4.2 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 9.2%. By 2018, UAVs will be used by nearly every major manufacturing company to control logistics.

Consumer drones market

June 2016, 66 pages, Tractica, $3,800

Worldwide sales of consumer drones reached $1.9 billion in 2015 and will reach a market value of $5.0 billion by the end of 2021. Unit shipments will increase from 6.4 million units in 2015 to 67.7 million units annually by 2021.

Drone payload market

August 2016, 171 pages, Markets and Markets, $5,650

The drone payload market is estimated to be valued at USD 3.63 billion in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 7.72 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 16.25% between 2016 and 2021.

US DoD UAS Payloads

September 2016, Frost & Sullivan, $1,500

The DoD has been transitioning from acquiring new UAS to upgrading current platforms, sensors payloads, and overall capabilities. This report outlines the market payload size, and driving and restraining factors.

Global anti-drone market

July 2016, 116 pages, BIS Research, $3,800

Anti-drone systems are expected to generate $210 million in 2016. Report profiles Airbus, Blighter Surveillance Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Finmeccanica, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SAAB, Thales and Boeing.

Anti-drone market to 2022

March 2016, 137 pages, Markets and Markets, $5,650

The global anti-drone market is expected to reach $1.14 bn by 2022.

Global solar-powered UAV market

July 2016, 66 pages, TechNavio, $2,500

The global solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market will grow at a steady CAGR of nearly 13% through 2020.

Global UAV Sense & Avoid Systems

July 2016, 136 pages, BIS Research, $3,999

The UAV sense and avoid systems market, being an emerging market, will experience an exponential rate of growth expected to continue for next decade. This high rate of growth is attributed to the rising demand of UAVs in diverse commercial applications.

Global service robotics

August 2016, 80 pages, Renub Research, $1,243

The global service robotics market (defense, ag, logistics, medical, construction, mobile platform, inspection, underwater, rescue, security and others) to surpass $7 billion by 2020.

Global cleaning robots

August 2016, Allied Analytics, $3,792

Details floor, pool, window and lawn robots and profiles Dyson, Ecovacs, Infinuvo, iRobot, Philips, LG, Neato, Intellibot, Yujin and Samsung.

Global smart robots

June 2016, 84 pages, Infiniti Research, $2,500

Analysts forecast the global smart robots market to grow at a CAGR of 20.65% during the period 2016-2020. 52 companies are mentioned. Emergence of IoT predicted as key driver.

Law enforcement robots

July 2016, 649 pages, Wintergreen Research, $4,100

Law enforcement robot markets at $1 billion in 2015 are anticipated to reach $5.7 billion by 2022.

Global security robots market

August 2016, 103 pages, Arcluster, $4,150

Forecasts the global security robots market to reach $2.7B by 2020.

Global IT robotic automation

July 2016, 196 pages, Accuray Research, $4,200

This report covers robotic as well as robot-like s/w apps (virtual rather than physical) and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 59% over next decade and will reach $49.3 bn by 2025.

Global military UGV market

July 2016, 123 pages, Strategic Defence Intelligence, $4,800

The global military UGV market values US$444.8 million in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.76%, to value US$707.8 million by 2026.

Agricultural robots and drones

August 2016, 163 pages, IDTechEx, $4,975

Thousands of robotic milking parlours have been installed worldwide, creating a $1.9bn industry that is projected to grow to $8bn by 2023. more than 300k tractors equipped with autosteer or tractor guidance will be sold in 2016, rising to more than 660k units per year by 2026. This report also reflects on the agrochemical business and forecasts that crop protection chemical suppliers will no longer be able to ignore developments in the world of agricultural robotics. This is because their rise will change the amount and types of chemicals used, and will force suppliers to seriously consider re-inventing themselves as providers of crop protection, whatever its form, and not just narrow chemical suppliers.

Global agriculture robotics

July 2016, 80 pages, Nineteen Columns Market Research, $5,500

Outlines and classifies; profiles emerging AI vendors; describes needs and market segmentations.

Global exoskeleton robots market

February 2016, 49 pages, Infiniti Research, $2,500

Infiniti forecasts the global exoskeleton robots market to grow at a CAGR of 50.85% during the period 2016-2020.

Global exoskeletons market

August 2016, 103 pages, Arcluster, $4,150

Global exoskeleton market to reach $3.75 billion by 2021.

Surgical robots and surgical assist robots

May 2016, 156 pages, Wintergreen Research, $4,100

Hip and knee orthopedic surgical robot device markets at $222 million in 2015 are anticipated to reach $5 billion by 2022.

Global handicap assistance robots

May 2016, 53 pages, Infiniti Research, $2,500

Forecast Global Handicap Assistance Robots Market to grow at a CAGR of 32.12% by the number of units shipped, during the period 2016-2020.

Telemedicine & connected health & mobile healthcare devices

July 2016, 189 pages, Mind Commerce, $1,995

The fast growing area of Health Care IT Solutions is encompassing many different technologies including Internet of Things (IoT), broadband wireless, robotics, telepresence, artificial intelligence, machine communications, Big Data and Analytics.

Global industrial robots

August 2016, 79 pages, Renub Research, $1,252

Global Industrial Robotics Market is expected to be more than US$ 37 Billion by 2020. Automotive and Electrical & Electronics industry together expected to control close to 70% market share.

Global industrial robots

July 2016, 142 pages, Novonous, $5,000

Estimates that Global Industrial Robots Market will achieve annual CAGR of 15% till 2020.

Collaborative robots market

August 2016, 157 pages, Markets and Markets, $5,650

The global market for collaborative robots is expected to grow at a CAGR of 60.04% between 2016 and 2022 from USD 110.0 million in 2015 and reach USD 3.3 Billion by 2022.

Industrial robots market

April 2016, 110 pages, Zion Market Research, $4,200

Report includs a detailed value chain analysis and an analysis of Porter’s Five Forces model as it relates to industrial robotics.

Global parallel robots

July 2016, 61 pages, Infiniti Research, $2,500

The report forecasts the global parallel robots market to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% through 2020.

Global foundry and forging robots

July 2016, 97 pages, TechNavio, $2,500

The global foundry and forging robots market will grow steadily at a CAGR of more than 7% to 2020. APAC countries will remain the fastest growing area within the market.

Global packaging robots

July 2016, 68 pages, TechNavio, $2,500

Predicts the global packaging robots market to grow at a CAGR of more than 9% through 2020.

Asia Pacific (APAC) material handling market

August 2016, 82 pages, Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence, $3,800

APAC) Automated Material Handling Market is estimated to grow from US$7.604 billion in 2015 to US$14.364 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 9.47% over the forecast period.

Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) material handling market

August 2016, 89 pages, Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence, $3,800

EMEA automated material handling is estimated to grow from US$6.677 billion in 2015 to US$11.894 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 10.10% over the forecast period.

North America material handling market

July 2016, 87 pages, Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence, $3,800

North America Automated Material Handling Market is estimated to grow from US$3.535 billion in 2015 to US$5.923 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 8.98% over the forecast period.

Global palletizing equipment, conventional and robotic

August 2016, 64 pages, TechNavio, $2,500

Slow but steady growth of 3.91% CAGR during the period 2016-2020 is forecast.

Global palletizing machinery (robotic and other)

July 2016, 453 pages, Global Industry Analysts, $4,950

Segments various types of end-of-line machinery and robotics and profiles 207 companies in the field.

Global unmanned underwater vehicles

August 2016, 170 Pages, Accuray Research, $4,200

The Global Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) Market is poised to grow at a CAGR of around 12.2% over the next decade to reach approximately $7.25 billion by 2025.

Global autonomous underwater vehicles

July 2016, 125 pages, Azoth Analytics, $2,000

Market is forcasted to grow at a CAGR of 15.5% through 2021.

The fact-based backbone for many of these research reports is the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) annual World Robotics Industrial Robots and World Robotics Service Robots reports. These two books represent the official tabulation and analysis from all the robot associations around the world.

The 2016 reports cover 2015 activity. The two 2016 reports can be purchased for $2,000. The industrial report will be published and available for purchase September 29, 2016​ and the service report on October 12, 2016.