APAC robotics market set to reach $66b in 2017

Asia-Pacific’s robotics – including drones – and related services market is estimated to reach $66 billion this year, according to IDC.

IDC expects spending to accelerate over the five-year forecast period of 2017-2021, reaching $162 billion in 2021 with a CAGR of 25.2%. This represents more than a projected 70% of the world’s total robotics market.

“The convergence of robotics and artificial intelligence technologies are accelerating the development of the next generation of intelligent robots for industrial, commercial, and consumer applications,” said Jing Bing Zhang, research director of robotics at IDC Manufacturing Insights.

“Intelligent robots with innovative capabilities such as cognitive interaction, self-diagnosis, and learning are emerging and driving wider adoption of robotics in many industries including manufacturing, resources, healthcare, retail, and so on.”

China dominates the Asia-Pacific robotics market, with spending on robotics and related services expected to reach $74 billion in 2021. This represents 45.7% of Asia Pacific’s total spending in the next five years.

From a technology perspective, Asia-Pacific spending on robotic systems is expected to grow to $92 billion in 2021.This includes industrial, service and consumer robots and after-market robotic hardware.

Meanwhile, services-related spending, which encompasses application management, education and training, hardware deployment, system integration, and consulting, will grow to over $44 billion in 2021.

In the telecoms sector, operators in multiple markets are trialing using drone technology to improve network maintenance and fault detection capabilities. Vendors such as Nokia are meanwhile testing applications for drones including the instant establishment of LTE public safety networks.