Robot installations reached 'all-time high' in 2021: report

The latest World Robotics Report from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) shows an all-time high of 517,385 new industrial robots installed in 2021 in factories around the world. This represents a growth rate of 31% year on year and exceeds the pre-pandemic record of robot installation in 2018 by 22%. Today, the stock of operational robots around the globe has hit a new record of about 3.5 million units.

“The use of robotics and automation is growing at a breathtaking speed,” said IFR President Marina Bill. “Within six years, annual robot installations more than doubled. According to our latest statistics, installations grew strongly in 2021 in all major customer industries, although supply chain disruptions as well as different local or regional headwinds hampered production.”

Asia remains the world’s largest market for industrial robots. 74% of all newly deployed robots in 2021 were installed in Asia (up from 70% in 2020).

Installations for the region’s largest adopter, China, grew strongly by 51%, with 268,195 units shipped. Every other robot installed globally in 2021 was deployed here. The operational stock broke the 1 million unit mark (+27%). This high growth rate indicates the rapid speed of robotisation in China.

Japan remained second to China as the largest market for industrial robots. Installations were up 22% in 2021, with 47,182 units. Japan’s operational stock was 393,326 units (+5%) in 2021.

After two years of declining robot installations in all major industries, numbers began growing again in 2021. Japan is the world’s predominant robot manufacturing country: exports of Japanese industrial robots achieved a new peak level at 186,102 units in 2021.

The Republic of Korea was the fourth largest robot market in terms of annual installations, following the US, Japan and China.

Worldwide annual robot installations (x1000 units) between 2015 and 2021 more than doubled. Image ©World Robotics 2022. For a larger image, click here.

Robot installations in Europe were up 24% to 84,302 units in 2021. This represents a new peak. Demand from the automotive industry was steady, while demand from general industry was up by 51%. Germany, which belongs to the five major robot markets in the world, had a share of 28% of total installations in Europe.

In the United Kingdom, industrial robot installations were down by 7% to 2054 units. The operational stock of robots was calculated at 24,445 units (+6%) in 2021. This is less than a tenth of Germany’s stock. The automotive industry reduced installations by 42% to 507 units in 2021.

In 2021, 50,712 industrial robots were installed in the Americas, which is 31% more than in 2020. This is a remarkable recovery from the pandemic dip in 2020 and the second time that robot installations in the Americas exceeded the 50,000-unit mark, with 55,212 units in 2018 setting the benchmark.

New installations in the United States were up by 14% to 34,987 units in 2021. This exceeded the pre-pandemic level of 33,378 units in 2019 but was still considerably lower than the peak level of 40,373 units in 2018. The automotive industry is still by far the number one adopter; however, demand had been continuously declining for five years (2016–2021).

Outlook

Rising energy prices, intermediate product prices and scarcity of electronic components are challenging all branches of the global economy. But order books are full and demand for industrial robots has never been higher. In total, global robot installations are expected to grow by 10% to almost 570,000 units in 2022. The post-pandemic boom experienced in 2021 is expected to fade out in 2022. From 2022 to 2025, average annual growth rates in the medium to upper single-digit range are forecast.

Top image credit: iStock.com/Baran Özdemir