Sales of industrial robots have experienced a strong recovery: A record 486,800 units have been reached worldwide, an increase of 27% from the previous year, according to preliminary results for 2021, published by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR)
The region of Asia-Australia registered the highest growth in demand, as installations increased by 33%, reaching 354,500 units. Second, it is found Europewhich has experienced double-digit growth, 15%, with 78,000 units installed and America has increased 27% with 49,400 units sold, according to the same sources.
In 2021, the main engine of growth was the electronic industry (132,000 installations, +21%), which overtook the automotive industry (109,000 installations, +37%) as the largest customer of industrial robots already in 2020. It was followed by metal and machinery (57,000 installations, +38%), ahead of plastics and chemical products (22,500 installations, +21%) and food and beverages (15,300 installations, +24%).
European recovery
In 2021, industrial robot installations in Europe have recovered after two years of decline. In fact, they have surpassed the maximum of 75,600 units reached in 2018. Demand from the metal and machinery sectors increased considerably (15,500 installations, +50%), followed by plastics and chemicals (7,700 installations, +30%). ).
For their part, the cobot, in 2021, they registered a growth of 44.6%, according to Interact Analysis. This growth is due to the modest growth rate from which they started in 2020 and the great boost received by companies after learning about the advantages that cobots provide in uncertain environments.
Over the next two years, Interact Analysis forecasts that the cobot market will maintain a strong annual growth rate of 25%, reaching 50,000 installed cobots by 2022.
Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot, comments: “These figures show that the robotics industry, in any of its variants, has recovered and has reached installation figures never seen before. And, of course, collaborative robots have contributed to its momentum thanks to their safety, versatility and efficiency”.
