Robots are an area of innovation that are benefiting from rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence, optical imaging and wireless connectivity. Service robots are the fastest growing robotics sector; Strategy Analytics forecasts service robot sales will grow at a 20% CAGR over the next 5 years. Service robots are found in both private households and public settings ranging from schools to hospitals to the warehouses. They are used for a wide variety of tasks including cleaning, delivery, education and logistics. In addition, they are taking on new tasks such as performing complex and delicate surgeries, as well as more mundane ones such as acting as security guards.

We divide service robots into two broad categories, Collaborative Household Robots, and Professional Service Robots.

Collaborative Household Robots perform tasks that can improve the quality of a person’s everyday life, whether it be vacuuming in the home, mowing the lawn, or acting as a companion. A quickly growing subset of the collaborative household robot category is the edutainment personal robot. These are robots that provide entertainment and/or can be used for educational purposes, such as tutoring children. These sectors, combined, are driving growth for personal robot sales at a CAGR of 150% over the next five years.

Pepper from Softbank:

Professional Service Robots are used in the workplace for commercial tasks. In the past many of these robots were supervised by a trained operator, but increasingly these robots are gaining additional autonomy to perform tasks such as delivering take-out meals, cleaning offices and conducting security patrols in workspaces during off-hours. That said, other critical tasks such as performing surgeries, fighting fires and the like will continue to require the presence of a human supervisor that is ready to step in and take control as necessary. The Professional Service Robot category will grow at a CAGR of 200% through 2023.

da Vinci Robotic Surgery System:

Strategy Analytics’ Device Technologies practice examines the rapidly growing robotics sector in two new reports. The Personal Service Robot Sales Forecast report looks at the growth for robots in the Collaborative Household and Edutainment sectors, including such categories as cleaning, lawn care, pool cleaning, elderly and handicap assistance, education, home security and other categories.  The Professional Service Robot Sales Forecast report looks at the rapid growth in demand for robots in key sectors such as Cleaning, Medical, PR & Education, Construction / Demolition, Delivery & Logistics and Rescue & Security.