Robots will continue to be Hot, Hot, Hot in 2016

Much of this growth can be attributed to China, where sales have quadrupled in the last five years. The IFR expects sales in China alone to total 150,000 units by 2018.

The hottest of the hot topics in the robotics industry is collaborative robots. Still in its infancy, the rapidly evolving domain of human-robot collaboration (HRC) has seen remarkable technological advancements in the last two years. No doubt, ambitious start-ups breeding new types of collaborative robots have excited the frenzy. And the “traditional” industrial robot companies are introducing collaborative robots at a breakneck pace as well. These collaborative robots make it possible to work side-by-side with humans, allowing for countless new applications in areas such as lab work to final assembly of all types of products.

2015 also saw the largest investment in robotics related companies. According to The Robot Report, there were 55 equity funding’s for a total of $1.3 billion; acquisitions totaling almost $2 billion, and $42 million in a single IPO. There were over 100 research reports published in 2015 covering the global robotics industry. Talk about a hot topic!

Let’s not forget about the growth in service robots. Robots are increasingly broadening our horizons beyond the factory floor. From robotic vacuums, bomb retrievers, exoskeletons and drones, to robots used in surgery, space exploration, agriculture and construction, service robots are building a formidable résumé. Yet the world of service robotics is still a largely untapped mine of possibilities.

By all accounts, the growth potential for service robotics is huge, destined to eventually surpass its big brother, industrial robotics. Many have likened this phenomenon to the proliferation of personal computers in the 1980s.

While there have been remarkable advances in the technologies enabling robots to augment our strengths and talents, there is still much work ahead. Experts agree that we have a long way to go before robots are omnipresent in our everyday lives.

This brings us to the continued rhetoric you often see in the media that “robots take jobs.” As the association that represents the industry, we wholeheartedly disagree.  Robotics and automation grows jobs in the U.S. In fact, we published a white paper entitled “Robots Fuel the Next Wave of U.S. Productivity and Job Growth” in which data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a wide range of manufacturing firms document how and why increasing the use of robots is associated with increased employment.

Our key statistics show that during the non-recessionary periods – 1996-2000, 2002-2007, and 2010-2014 – general employment and robot shipments both increased. Since 2010, the robotics industry in the United States has grown substantially. Even during this period of record-breaking robot sales, U.S. employment increased. This new data is in stark contrast to media coverage and a perception that increasing use of robots causes higher rates of unemployment in the U.S.

Will 2016 be another “Year of the Robot?” You just wait and find out!