More than 150,000 retrieval robots will be installed by 2030
Interact Analysis predicts annual shipments will jump from less than 2,000 in 2022, to a little over 50,000 by the end of the decade.
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There will be more than 150,000 collector robots installed by 2030, according to research from Interaction Analysis. The company expects annual shipments will jump from less than 2,000 in 2022, to a little over 50,000 by the end of the decade.
In the coming years, Interact Analysis predicts that the price of labor will continue to rise while the price of picking robots will fall. Currently, robotic picking is still very expensive, especially for single-shift operations. However, by 2030, the average price of picking robots will fall by 40% while warehouse labor costs will increase by 30% over the same period.
Interact Analysis also expects the density of robots to increase over time. Currently, Interact Analysis assumes that for every 3-5 robots, there will be one full-time equivalent (FTE) employee supervising them. By 2030, this will change to one FTE for every 7-10 robots.
The robot density in the US has steadily increased over the years. By 2021, the US will have 274 robots for every 10,000 workers, making it the ninth most automated country in the world, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).
Other countries, such as China, for example, have been increasing their robot densities at a faster rate. From 2020 to 2021, China went from the world’s ninth most automated country to fifth with 322 industrial robots for every 10,000 employees, exceeding the density of robots in Taipai China, the United States, Hong Kong and Sweden.
Overall, Robot installations hit an all-time high in 2021, according to IFR. The IFR report shows that 517,385 new industrial robots will be installed in 2021 in factories around the world.
For two consecutive years, 2022 and 2021, North American sales of robots have reached record highs, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). The North American company ordered 44,196 robots in 2022, an increase of 11% from 2021. The sales were valued at $2.38 billion, an increase of 18% from the previous year.
