WorldRobotics
Service Robots

2022

Statistics, Market Analysis and Case Studies

WorldRobotics

2022–ServiceRobots

Produced by VDMA Services GmbH, Lyoner Str. 18, 60528 Frankfurt,Germany.
The service robot statistics is carried out by the IFR StatisticalDepartment.
Chapter 3 is co-edited by Dr. Birgit Graf, Head of the Group “Personaland Domestic Robotics”, and Dr. Kai Pfeiffer, Head of the Group“Industrial and Commercial Service Robots”, both at Fraunhofer Institutefor Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA, Stuttgart (Germany)in close collaboration with scientists from their research groups.
The cover and the editorial are sponsored by Fourier Intelligence, Co.
Ltd.
Assisting in statistics data collection, text and charts processing: Nina
Kutzbach, IFR Statistical Department
We express our most sincere gratitude to all partners!
Dr. Christopher Müller
Director
IFR Statistical Department
Tel:
E-Mail:Internet:+49 69 66 03-11 91
statistics@ifr.org
http://www.worldrobotics.org

Copyright ©2022 by International Federation of Robotics (IFR) Statistical Department
All rights reserved.
Suggested citation: Müller, Christopher; Graf, Birgit; Pfeiffer, Kai (Eds.): World Robotics 2022 – ServiceRobots, IFR Statistical Department, VDMA Services GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2022.
Short citation: World Robotics 2022 – Service Robots
No part of this publication may, for sales purposes, be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying orotherwise, without prior permission in writing from VDMA Services GmbH (contact via IFR StatisticalDepartment).

ISBN 978-3-8163-0753-2

Executive Summary World Robotics 2022 - Service Robots

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Executive Summary World Robotics 2022 - Service Robots
The service robot industry is more diverse and less tangible than the industrial robotindustry. The IFR SD is currently aware of 1,010 service robot producers worldwide. This
excludes prototyping services and system integrators. Many companies are still in thefunding or prototyping stage and intend to offer a marketable product in the future.
In 2021, worldwide sales of professional service robots grew by 37%. More than 121,000of the units sold were reported to the IFR SD. The size of the RaaS fleet more thandoubled to about 5,200 units (+125%).
Mobile robot solutions are already established in transportation and logistics (AP5)with 45% more units sold in 2021. More than one out of every three professional service
robots sold in 2021 was built for the transportation of goods or cargo. Traditional sales
remain the main channel of monetarization, but RaaS business models enjoy growing
popularity: The RaaS fleet grew by 86% in 2021. Hospitality robots (AP8) enjoy growing
popularity. Sales were up 85% in 2021 and the RaaS fleet size is growing rapidly. Salesof medical robots (AP6) were up 23%, including surgery robots, robots for rehabilitationand non-invasive therapy, and robots for diagnostics. Demand for professional
cleaning robots (AP2) grew by 31%. There are some RaaS offerings, but the number ofrobots in the fleet shows that traditional sales are by far more common as a businessmodel. Robotics is an important part of digitalization in agriculture (AP1). Demand grewby 6% in 2021. There is a lot of research and development into the use of robots for thecultivation (AP11) of plants and crops, which encompasses a variety of tasks. Due to thetechnological complexity, the practical use and economic benefit of these robots is often
still limited, and it requires some pioneering spirit (and funding) for farmers to use a robot
in the field. There are several robotic devices for inspection and maintenance (AP3)available, but the portfolio of robots that conduct inspection and maintenance tasks
autonomously (see chapter 1.4 for the difference between robots and robotic devices) is
still limited but growing. Sales were up 21% in 2021. Robots for construction ordemolition (AP4) tasks constitute a small but growing niche market. Another growing
market is the application group of search and rescue and security robots (AP7).
Chapter 2 of World Robotics 2021 Service Robots provides a detailed analysis of IFR’s
annual survey among service robot suppliers. Chapter 3 provides detailed descriptionsof the tasks that service robots can do, the state-of-the-art in applied research, costbenefit considerations, and marketing challenges for each application class (seeapplication class scheme in chapter 1), prepared by the robotics experts at Fraunhofer
IPA.
The service robot industry is developing at a high pace. Lots of start-up companies
appear every year, developing innovative service robot applications and improving
existing concepts. But it is also true that many of these young companies disappear assoon as they emerge. Some of them are acquired by incumbents, others are acquiredby companies from other industries that want to expand into service robotics. Then again,
there are those that just go out of business because they fail to develop a marketable14

Executive Summary World Robotics 2022 - Service Robots

product or there is insufficient demand for the specific product. All of this describes ayoung and growing industry with a rapidly developing technology. Chapter 4 of World
Robotics 2021 Service Robots offers an industry structure analysis more than 1,000
service robot suppliers currently known to the IFR. This includes a full list of allcompanies and the applications they provide. Customers of World Robotics Premium
are now able to download this list in Excel format.
Although the service robotics industry is a young and growing industry, 87% of thesuppliers are considered incumbents. This includes mature service robot suppliers aswell as companies from other industries that added service robots to their portfolio. The
IFR’s market observation suggests two reasons for the decreasing share: Some market
segments have already achieved a level of maturity that sees companies growing, forinstance AMRs for warehouse logistics. Sales of AMRs have been growing strongly formany years now and companies grew and became incumbents. Further, founding
activities shifted away from the development of robot hardware. Many service
applications are based on collaborative industrial robots, purchased from an industrial
robot producer. The service robot supplier is therefore not considered a robot producer
as the robot is purchased from a third party. These companies act like a system
integrator, combining different components and developing software to create a solution.
828 companies (82%) are classified as producers of professional service robots. Most ofthese companies, 400 (48%), are in Europe, followed by (North) America (211companies; 25%), and Asia (206 companies; 25%). 240 companies (24%) are classified
as consumer service robot producers. 38% are in Asia (91 companies), 36% of them arein Europe (86 companies), and 26% are in (North) America (62 companies).