U.N. releases World Robotics 2004 survey

In the last decade the performance of robots has increased enormously while at the same time their prices have been plummeting. A robot sold in 2003 would have cost about a quarter of what a robot with the same performance would have cost in 1990. In the last few years the price decrease of robots has, however, started to level off. Profitability studies have shown that it is not unusual for robots to have a payback period as short as 1-2 years.

And not hire people?

In Germany, for instance, the prices of robots relative to labour costs have fallen from 100 in 1990 to 35 in 2003 and to 15 when taking into account the radically improved performance of robots. In North America, the relative price dropped to 28 and to about 12 if quality improvements are taken into consideration.

"Falling or stable robot prices, increasing labour costs and continuously improved technology are major driving forces which speak for continued massive robot investment in industry", says Jan Karlsson.

Even in developing countries like Brazil, Mexico and China, robot investments are starting to take off at an impressive rate.

"As robots are used both for increasing capacity and for rationalising production, robots investments are made also during periods of economic recession. When the economy recovers, production can then to a large extent be increased without necessarily hiring new labour", concludes Jan Karlsson.

If robots are so profitable why is there not an even stronger rush to invest?

Robots are not products to be acquired "over the counter". In order to reap the benefits of robots, potential user companies must have sufficient in-house technological know-how as well as a thorough comprehension of their production processes.

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