At the end of the 20th century, Japan and the United States became the world's major manufacturing powers due to the widespread use of robotics. Therefore, the use of robotics can be used as a yardstick for a country's manufacturing. According to the latest report of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), published this week, there are 4,664,000 industrial robots in the world. Of this number, around 2 million or around 43% operate in China.
Throughout 2024, China added more than 295,000 robots for industrial needs, which is an increase of 7% compared to throughout 2023. During the same period, Japan in second place recorded a decrease of -4%, the United States -9%, South Korea -3% and Germany -5%. Taiwan recorded the highest increase in industrial robot installations of 33% but this is only an increase of 56,000 compared to 2023.
IFR sees a huge increase in demand for robots in the medical industry to assist in surgical procedures, patient rehabilitation and use in laboratories for diagnosis and analysis. As for humanoid robots, IFR sees them still in the testing stage without any real-world needs. Their development is currently seen as a process of collecting data to develop other robots in the future.