Industrial robot installations up globally but down in UK

“The use of robotics and automation is growing at a breathtaking speed,” says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “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, accounting for 74% of all newly deployed robots in 2021. Installations for the region's largest adopter China grew strongly by 51% with 268,195 units shipped, while operational stock exceeded one million units. In 2021, 50,712 industrial robots were installed in the Americas, 31% more than in 2020.

In Europe robot installations were up 24% to 84,302 units in 2021. Demand from the automotive industry was steady, while demand from the 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. Italy followed with 17% and France with 7%.

In the UK 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.

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