Double-Digit Growth Highlights a Boom in Robotics

With higher sales and positive forecasts for the coming years, 2015 was another successful year for the robotics industry worldwide. This is confirmed by rising sales of both industrial and service robots. By 2019, more than 1.4 million new industrial robots will be installed in factories around the world according to the latest forecast from the International Federation of Robotics. Broken down by sector, around 70% of industrial robots are currently used by the automotive, electrical/electronics, and metalworking industries. In 2015, the number of industrial robot installations in the electronics industry showed the strongest growth, with an increase of 18% (metalworking industry 16%, automotive sector 10%). In a global comparison, the countries of the European Union are especially highly developed in automation in general. © 1994-2011 IEEE.