As the implementation of smart factories surges forward, more companies are becoming aware of the growing importance of and uses for collaborative robots, according to a new report from Tractica. Still, a gap exists in understanding what these robots are as well as the implications for businesses.

Large company adoption of cobots is already occurring and benefits such as lower costs, increased safety, flexibility, and personnel efficiencies are the key driving factors for cobot demand in small and medium enterprises as well. More startups are entering the industry with new user-friendly cobot offerings, making the market increasingly competitive and diverse.

Even with potential barriers such as high potential costs and significant planning, deployment, and training time, Tractica forecasts that the global cobot market will continue growing rapidly over the next few years, reaching revenue of $9.7 billion by 2025.

“New opportunities are opening in the market as makers develop cobots with higher payload capacities and speed. The integration of cobots with the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) opens new possibilities for the coordination of cobots doing smart manufacturing with the rest of the automation processes,” said senior analyst Glenn Sanders. “Humanlike abilities of perception, object recognition, gripping and manipulating objects, and dual grippers present the potential to drive greater demand in the coming years.”

Tractica’s report, “Collaborative Robots”, examines the market issues surrounding cobots and presents 8-year revenue forecasts for the industry. The report discusses the crucial market drivers, challenges, and industry applications, in addition to assessing the most important technology issues that will influence market development.

Tractica profiles the top 17 industry players, organized by pure cobot vendors, industrial robot vendors, end-of-arm tooling vendors, and software framework providers. An information bank of 82 key and emerging companies is also included in this report. Market forecasts, segmented by industry, payload capacity, and application, extend through 2025. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) recently released its annual World Robotics Report. For the first time, the report tracked the number of cobots sold worldwide. According to the IFR, less than 14,000 cobots were sold in 2018, accounting for 3.24% of total industrial robot sales. However, the 2018 numbers are an increase of 23% from the 11,000 cobots that were sold in 2017.