Feb 13, 2024 — We’re in the midst of a decade of unprecedented transformation, driven in part by the global pandemic and geopolitical events which are fundamentally changing the way we manufacture and deliver goods.
Jan 24, 2024 — Sustainability, encompassing social, economic, and environmental aspects, has become a prominent topic in today's discussion. Amid this, the integration of robots and robotics technologies is emerging as a powerful tool in contributing to the achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Dec 13, 2023 — In general, the situation we all had to deal with during the last years strongly supported the acceptance of technology and digitalization. This sometimes created a hype for new robotic solutions and now we see some consolidation of this phase.
Nov 20, 2023 — As has already been widely reported during the last year, global economic and geopolitical challenges continued in force during 2022 and resulted in many unwelcomed operational constraints to industry and business.
Feb 27, 2023 — In AI in robotics research, Dr. Susanne Bieller, IFR General Secretary noted that programming and integration account for 50-70% of the cost of a robot application. Robot programming was a huge problem for a long time. It was time-consuming and economically unviable for high-mix production as the cost of switching from one product to another was very expensive.
Nov 03, 2022 — A rehabilitation robot is a service robot for professional use that provides physical and information-related assistance during therapy sessions to rehabilitate sensorimotor deficits after damage to the central nervous system (CNS). The therapy is performed by stimulating physiological limb muscles and peripheral receptors through functional arm/hand and leg movement exercises based on the neuroplasticity principle.
Nov 02, 2022 — Already for the third and obviously not the last time, we wrote the preface of “World Robotics Service Robots” under the influence of the pandemic (not to forget other global challenges, of course). While some things in our private and professional lives have more or less returned to normal, in other areas the effects of the pandemic are still manifold. Some of these effects have an immense influence on the perception and market development of service robots.
Oct 24, 2022 — The growing number of robots in mass production is part of a decades-long success story in relieving people from the burden of repetitive, ergonomically difficult, physically demanding and even dangerous work.
Events
Expo Manufactura
February 03- February 05, 2026
DIRA Business og ROBOTBRAG
May 07- May 08, 2026
Annual Robot Party
Elmia Automation
May 19- May 22, 2026
Automation fair
ICRA 2026
June 01- June 05, 2026
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
Automate 2026
June 22- June 25, 2026
The latest in robotics, machine vision, AI, motion control, and more
ISR 2026 Americas
June 22- June 25, 2026
The 59th International Symposium on Robotics (ISR 2026 Americas) takes place at McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, USA. The conference is organized in conjunction with the Automate show.
World Robotics - Industrial Robots: Global Robot Demand in Factories Doubles Over 10 Years
The new World Robotics 2025 statistics on industrial robots showed 542,000 robots installed in 2024 - more than double the number 10 years ago. Annual installations topped 500,000 units for the fourth straight year. Asia accounted for 74% of new deployments in 2024, compared with 16% in Europe and 9% in the Americas.
World Robotics - Service Robots See Global Growth Boom
In 2024, worldwide sales of professional service robots grew by 9%, medical robots by 91%, and service robots for consumer use by 11%. More than 199,000 units for professional service robots and close to 16,700 units of medical robots sold were registered by the IFR Statistical Department.
The IFR Newsletter - published quarterly - informs about sector relevant news - press releases, in-depth blogs, positioning papers and case studies on robot use. In addition, we inform about upcoming events, and new IFR members. Each newsletter highlights a report by the current IFR president. Please register for an automatic supply.
The General Secretariat is responsible for the daily management of IFR and the coordination of all major activities, events and collaboration. The General Secretariat handles all questions regarding IFR membership.