U.N. releases World Robotics 2004 survey

Over 600,00 household robots are already in use with several million more expected for domestic consumption in the next few years according to the World Robotics 2004 survey, produced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), in cooperation with the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

The World Robotics 2004 survey provides a definitive overview on the state of global robotics usage. Worldwide investment in industrial robots was up 19% in 2003, and orders for robots were up another 18% to the highest level ever recorded in the first half of 2004. The integration of robots into our everyday environment is statistically foreshadowed with the UNECE survey tipping worldwide growth in the period 2004-2007 to grow at an average annual rate of about 7%.

Double-digit growth in the robot business

In 2003, the robot market in North America surged by 28%, by close to 25% in Japan and by 4% in the European Union, says Jan Karlsson, responsible for the UNECE/IFR publication. The modest growth in the European Union market should, however, be seen in the light of the fact that with the exception of 1997 and 2001-2002, the European Union has had double-digit market growth since 1994. The robot boom in Japan in the 1980s and early 1990s has dipped since 1998, while robot stocks increased by 7% in Europe and 9% in North America. The Japanese market now shows signs of recovering and the robot density in the Republic of Korea is increasing rapidly.

Number of robots now working in industry

Worldwide at least 800,000 units (possibly the real stock could be well over one million units), of which 350,000 in Japan, close to 250,000 in the European Union and about 112,000 in North America. In Europe, Germany is in the lead with 112,700 units, followed by Italy with 50,000, France with 26,000, Spain with 20,000 and the United Kingdom with 14,000. Despite this disparity between European countries, it is interesting to note that the robot density throughout the European Union is about 50% higher than that of the United States.

A conservative forecast for 2007 points to about one million units worldwide, of which 350,000 in Japan, 326,000 in the European Union and 145,000 in North America.

In the manufacturing industry there are about 320 robots per 10,000 employees in Japan, 148 in Germany, 116 in Italy, 99 in Sweden and between 80 and 50 in Finland, Spain, France, United States, Austria, Benelux and Denmark (the figure for Japan includes all types of robots while for all the other countries only multipurpose industrial robots are included. The figures are therefore not comparable). In the United Kingdom the density amounted to about 40. In the car industry in Japan, Italy and Germany there is more than 1 robot per 10 production workers.

Service robots for professional use

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