Bergur Thormundsson
Research expert covering technology in the Nordics, AI and smart cities
Specialist robots worldwide - statistics & facts
While specialist robots might suggest something out of Star Wars, in reality it is a large segment of the robotics market, covering a wide variety of specialist tasks. The robotics industry is large, expecting to draw in a revenue of over 37 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This large market has naturally begun to move into specializations, from home robots to collaborative robots, to industrial robots. All have their place and specialist robots straddle the line between these groups as they are used in every industry.
Health robots seeing considerable growth
A large segment of specialist robots falls under healthcare robots. These machines are made for a variety of purposes, from helping elderly people take medication to assisting with surgeries and intensive care. This has become an especially important segment of the robot market as the median age goes up across the world and, especially in advanced economies, the need for care workers increases. A good indicator of this is the recent rise of Procept BioRobotics to the list of the largest robot companies by market capitalization. It is the only non-industrial robot maker on the list, demonstrating the growing importance of healthcare robots.The United States houses most robot companies
Among the advanced economies that develop and export robots it is the United States that has the largest number of long-running robot companies, with a little over 200 companies operating in the country. While China is next on the list it is notable that Germany, economically far smaller than the first two, ranks third and nearly matches the U.S. in the number of robotic startup companies. This underscores the manufacturing and advanced robot design heft the country possesses.Specialist robots will continue to grow
The concept of a specialist robot is likely to evolve and change, seeing use everywhere where humans operate, from underground to space exploration. This market is likely to only continue to grow and grow fast as generative AI reshapes the very potential of what robots might be capable of in the near future. Any advanced economy as well as any business looking to improve efficiency would do well to keep pace with the rapid advances of specialist robots or else fall behind its competitors.
