Report Highlights

The global demand for robots and robot-related products was worth around $21 billion in 2010. The market is expected to grow to nearly $22 billion in 2011 and $30 billion by 2016, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7% between 2011 and 2016.

Report Scope

Robotics: Technologies and Global Markets provides both a review of recent key developments in robotics and a comprehensive set of 2011 to 2016 market demand forecasts presented as easy-to-comprehend tables. The study is divided into 18 chapters containing 128 tables, the bulk of which present forecasts.

Chapters One and Two are the Introduction and Summary of the report.

Chapter Three offers a broad-stroke review of the history and current state of the robotics industry. It emphasizes key developments that mark the evolution of robots and explains why and how they have collectively come to be identified as a distinct class of machine, separate from automated machine tools with which they have much in common.

Chapter Four reviews the six basic types of robots: industrial, domestic service, professional service, security, space, and military robots.

Chapter Five describes the basic technology and components (e.g., power supplies, end effectors) that are required on all types of robots. Topics have been updated to reflect research completed or undertaken since April 2009

Chapter Six focuses on advanced technologies and components, such as vision and collision avoidance systems that enable robots to work in close proximity to humans and in unstructured and mobile environments. As with the previous chapter, topics have been updated to reflect research completed or undertaken since April 2009.

Chapter Seven steps away from the technological aspects of robotics and focuses on the broader economic, national policy, and industrial development issues that support, and in some cases, impede the adoption of robotic technology.

Chapter Eight introduces the six types of robots that dominate the industry:

Domestic service robots

Professional service robots

Military robots

Security robots,

Industrial robots

Space robots

Chapter Nine examines the demand for robots in the four major marketing regions:

The North American Free Trade Zone (i.e., Canada, Mexico, the U.S.)

The 27-nation European Union trade zone

The Asian region, which is comprised of the major Pacific Rim countries

Other markets

Chapters Ten to Fifteen separately address technical issues and present 2011–2016 forecasts for each of the six types of robots introduced in Chapter 5. Each chapter contains a table listing the key industry and academic participants.

Chapter Sixteen shifts the analysis to robotic applications, meaning the 26 most commonly performed tasks assigned to iron-collar workers.

Chapter Seventeen highlights the organizations that have had the greatest influence on the robotics business, as well as those that have also positioned themselves to guide the industry as it continues to rapidly evolve. Background information is provided on what BCC considers to be the most influential members of the robotics community.

Chapter Eighteen offers a developmental perspective of the robotics industry, as documented by its patent history. This chapter has been updated to identify more than 630 new robot-related patents issued since publication of the previous edition of this study in April 2009. Abstracts are provided for key U.S. patents issued from 1976 through April 2011. The chapter concludes with a chronological list of key patents issued from the early 1970s onward.

Analyst Credentials

James Wilson is the author of the 2007 edition of Robotics: Technologies and Global Markets, as well as five other robotic-related studies published by BCC Research. In addition to his work as a technology analyst, Wilson previously served as the Editor of the Princeton Business Journal and as senior Science and Technology Editor for Hearst Magazines. He is a past member of the National Association of Science Writers and the American Medical Writers Association. Wilson served on the adjunct faculty of Temple University and on the staffs of Drexel University and the Academy of Natural Sciences. His five other robotics-related BCC studies are: