Record sales of cobots reveal increasing demand for end-of-arm tooling

Article from OnRobot

For the first time, the annual World Robotics report includes a specific analysis on the market for collaborative robots, documenting a robust 23% growth worldwide. The International Federation of Robotics’ report indicates that a substantial part of the adoption will be driven by more intelligent components, such as smart grippers, “plug and play” interfaces and programming by demonstrations.

CEO of OnRobot, Enrico Krog Iversen, welcomes the report, emphasizing how these trends align closely with OnRobot’s value proposition. “The significant growth of cobot installations shows that our new One-System Solution that provides a unified mechanical and electrical interface between any OnRobot EoAT and a full range of cobots and light industrial robots is right on track.”

He added, “This new platform helps small and mid-sized manufacturers optimize their processes with greater flexibility, higher output and improved quality. We have only seen the beginning of amazing growth in the cobot area, alongside with the current rise of industrial robots.

“In this growing market, OnRobot is poised to become the world’s leading EoAT manufacturer. The target is to extend our number of products from 10 to 50 next year alone. With a single robotic system, a single platform for programming and training, and single vendor relationship, manufacturers now have access to a full range of tools, full robot compatibility and virtually unlimited possibilities for collaborative applications.”

The U.S. is a major market for OnRobot; in the U.S. robot sales increased for the eighth year in a row to a new peak in 2018, reaching 40,300 units, a growth 22% higher than 2017. The U.S. is now the country in the world with the third most robot installations, though when looking at robot density, measured in number of robots per 10,000 people, the U.S. only ranks eighth on the world scale, slipping two places down in the ranking since 2017, overtaken by countries such as Sweden and Korea.

“The U.S. market is far from saturated,” said Kristian Hulgard, general manager for OnRobot’s Americas division. “With record low unemployment, U.S. manufacturers face labor shortages while also struggling to compete with low-wage countries. Automation is their only solution to this multi-faceted challenge and we’re well-positioned to seize this opportunity.”