Statistics

EUnited Robotics works in close cooperation with the IFR Statistical Department. 

The IFR Statistical Department is responsible for the collection of worldwide statistical robotics data. The annual publication "World Robotics" was transferred from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to the IFR Statistical Department, led by Gudrun Litzenberger.

Application Report of VITRONIC's robot vision system VIRO-3D.

The Robots are coming!

After the record numbers recorded in 2005, sales of industrial robots were 11% lower in 2006, at 112,200 units. Nevertheless, this was the second highest result ever recorded. Although the automotive and the electrical/electronics industries, which in 2005 were still the main engines of the rapid growth that had been experienced, reduced their investment in robotics by 17% and 34% respectively, all other industrial sectors increased robot purchases by 25%.

Worldwide: almost 1 million robots
The IFR Statistical Department estimates that there are now over 951,000 robots in operation worldwide. Almost 50% of these are in Asia, a third in Europe, and 16% in North America. Australia and Africa each share about 1% of the total.

2007: growth of 10%
The IFR Statistical Department forecasts that in 2007, around 10% more industrial robots will be sold worldwide than in 2006. In Europe, rising demand has already been registered, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, Germany and Italy.