Robots are now an undeniable presence everywhere in our daily life. You see them in warehouses, in hospitals, on the street and in restaurants. The robotics industry, therefore, has become a hot field for investment.

Market research company IDC predicts in its Worldwide Commercial Robotics Spending Guide that the compound annual growth rate of the robotics industry will be 17 percent, and that the industry will reach a net worth of 135.4 billion dollars by 2019. The robotics industry boom is taking place mainly in Asia, with China and Japan responsible for 69 percent of total consumption on robots.

One of the main indicators for the industry’s building prosperity is that venture investment capital on robots hit 587 million dollars in 2015, which is twice the amount in 2014. In addition, the number of patent applications has been soaring in the past decade. Last year, China took 35 percent of the total robotics-related patent application around the world.

Whether the robotics revolution will arrive in full still depends on innovative companies making strides in manufacturing. Currently, the industry features mostly high-cost traditional manufacturing. Instead, companies should be focusing on making low-cost machines with specific tasks, according to Financial Times. Another key to developing the robotics business is to focus on equipping robots with basic learning ability, so as to accelerate their improvement. 

This article is edited and translated from 《机器人产业2019年市场价值超千亿，谁将成为全球领导者？》, source: Thepaper.cn, author: Wang Xinxin