Cobot Market Sees 40% Growth Rebound In 2021
2021年協作機器人市場實現40%增長反彈

After a serious contraction in sales in 2020, the cobot market experienced a resounding 40% growth rebound in 2021, exceeding its 2019 market size. The period out to 2026 will see further strong expansion in sales and our forecasts show that by 2026 the cobot market will be worth over $2bn. The challenge will be for the sector to maintain growth over the longer term. How will they do this?

經歷了2020年銷量嚴重萎縮之后，協作機器人市場在2021年實現了40%的強勁增長反彈，超過了2019年的市場規模。到2026年期間，銷售額將進一步強勁增長，我們的預測顯示，到2026年協作機器人市場規模將超過20億美元。挑戰將是該行業如何長期保持增長。他們將如何做到這一點？

Logistics and services will be the long-term growth drivers
物流和服務將成為長期增長動力

We expect the overall robotics sector to see strong year-on-year growth of around 20% out to 2030. Industries are recalibrating after the turbulence caused by the pandemic and are responding to the challenges of current labor shortages by investing heavily in automation solutions. The key to maintaining long-term growth in the cobot market will lie in diversifying the range of application scenarios and achieving scale. There are many opportunities that the cobot industry can explore, notably in the burgeoning logistics and services markets. In fact, logistics is forecast to be the fastest-growing market for cobots in the next 5 years, with revenues more than doubling, and we believe that logistics and services will be the long-term drivers of growth. There is also the potential for expansion in key existing markets such as electronics, automotive and food and beverage through the introduction of more advanced technologies.

我們預計到2030年，整個機器人行業將出現約20%的強勁同比增長。各行業在經歷了大流行病造成的動蕩后正在重新調整，并通過大量投資于自動化解決方案來應對當前勞動力短缺的挑戰。協作機器人市場保持長期增長的關鍵在于應用場景的多樣化和規模化。協作機器人行業可以探索許多機會，特別是在蓬勃發展的物流和服務市場。事實上，物流預計將成為未來5年協作機器人增長最快的市場，收入將增加一倍以上，我們相信物流和服務將成為增長的長期驅動力。通過引入更先進的技術，在電子、汽車和食品飲料等關鍵現有市場也有擴展的潛力。

（數據來源：Interact Analysis）

New technologies enabling dedicated industry solutions
支持專用行業解決方案的新技術

Collaborative robot technology is becoming more sophisticated and focused. Vendors are moving away from simply selling concepts of ‘collaboration’ or ‘safety’ and are concentrating on offering specific solutions for different user scenarios. Potential market growth in industrial manufacturing lies in the development of high-precision sensors, machine vision, end arm tools and safety control software, enabling flexible production and cooperation between humans and robots.

協作機器人技術正變得越來越復雜和專注。供應商正在擺脫簡單地銷售“協作”或“安全”的概念，而是專注于為不同的用戶場景提供特定的解決方案。工業制造領域的潛在市場增長在于高精度傳感器、機器視覺、端臂工具和安全控制軟件的發展，從而實現柔性生產以及人類和機器人之間的合作。

These more advanced technologies when applied to collaborative robots offer the potential to replace or assist manual work in the completion of pick and place, packaging, quality inspection and other operations. Where the services sector is concerned, advances in machine vision and machine learning technology are opening new opportunities for the deployment of cobots in education, medical care, retail, logistics and catering. Making serious incursions into these service industries will be key to the long-term future market success of the cobot sector.

這些更先進的技術應用于協作機器人時，有可能取代或幫助人工完成拾取和放置、包裝、質量檢查和其他操作。就服務行業而言，機器視覺和機器學習技術的進步為在教育、醫療、零售、物流和餐飲領域部署協作機器人開辟了新的機遇。深入這些服務行業將是協作機器人行業未來長期市場成功的關鍵。

Cobots are making inroads into the industrial space
協作機器人正滲透工業領域

We predict that by 2025 collaborative robots will account for ~10% of total industrial robot sales. There are certain sectors of the industrial robot market where cobots will fail to make any significant penetration. These include areas where there are higher speed and accuracy requirements and where there is no human interaction. Automotive is a typical case in point. There is already a very high level of mature automation solutions in this industry, for instance in body shops for welding tasks and final painting. Traditional industrial robots will maintain their high-level presence in these scenarios, but opportunities do exist for collaborative robots to grow their presence in automotive.

我們預測，到2025年，協作機器人將占到工業機器人總銷售額的10%左右。在工業機器人市場的某些領域，協作機器人無法取得任何重大的滲透，包括對速度和精度有更高要求的領域，以及沒有人工干預的領域。汽車是一個典型的例子。這個行業已經有了非常高水平的成熟自動化解決方案，例如車身車間的焊接任務和最終噴漆。傳統工業機器人將在這些場景中保持其高水平的存在，但協作機器人確實有機會在汽車領域發展。

（數據來源：Interact Analysis）

Universal Robots, for instance, offers cobots with functionality in the powertrains, electronics, and interiors production stages, including machine tending, inspection, and assembly. Finally, industrial SMEs, which generally produce smaller batches of customized products, have tended to find traditional industrial robots too expensive. This is not the case with cobots and so SMEs represent a totally new industrial robot market opportunity that is open only to cobots.

例如，優傲機器人在汽車的動力系統、電子設備和內飾生產階段（包括機器維護、檢查和組裝）可以提供協作機器人。最后，通常生產小批量定制產品的中小制造企業往往發現傳統工業機器人過于昂貴，而協作機器人則不然，因此中小企業對協作機器人而言，代表了一個全新的工業機器人市場機會。