The most demanding systems for smart plants, cobbies, cloud service robotics and IoT systems are most sought after, according to an IFF report. Sales of industrial robots continue to grow at a rapid pace. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) forecasts that in 2017 the global industrial robot market will grow by 18%, reaching 346.8 thousand installations.
The industrial robots market in the Asia-Pacific region will grow at the fastest pace. Only 115,000 robotic systems in different industries are expected to be sold in China, according to IFR data. Growth leader of the embedded industrial robots is emerging in Canada, where automated systems installations will increase this year by 50% to 3.5 thousand units. Followed by China with 32% growth and 115 thousand installations and Brazil respectively with 24% growth and 1.5 thousand systems. According to the authors, the industrial robots market will grow by 15% per year on average by 2020 and will reach 520.9 thousand new systems. In the period 2017-2020, 1.7 million automated machines will be sold, of which China will be 635 thousand, South Korea 179.5 thousand, Japan 179 thousand, US 174 thousand, of Germany - 91 thousand. In 2016, the leader in industrial robot deployments was China with 87,000 new machines, followed by South Korea with 41,400 and Japan with 38,600. The forecast indicates that the base of installed robotic systems world-wide will reach 3.1 million machines by the end of the decade. The most robust systems are for smarter plants, robots to work with people, cloud service robots, and IoT systems (net of Internet), according to the IFR analysis.
