Smart robots for flexible production and resilient supply chains
Feb 25, 2021 — The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a number of recent developments in robotics into the limelight and is accelerating robot adoption in existing and new sectors. We look at five top trends.
Jan 05, 2021 — Experts in a virtual executive roundtable discussion hosted by IFR together with Messe München agree the most urgent challenge in up-skilling is ensuring effective collaboration between public and private-sector organization.
Dec 01, 2020 — New sales of professional service robots increased in 2019 by 32% over 2018 to US$ 11.2 billion, while the sales value of service robots for personal use is up 20% to US$ 5.7 billion.
Collaborative industrial robots show strong growth
Oct 29, 2020 — Manufacturers turn to automation in order to remain competitive in an environment characterized by customer demand for individualized products, labour shortages and a rapidly expanding range of robot capabilities and automation technologies.
Aug 12, 2020 — Robots have historically not been widely used in machining applications, but that may be about to change. We look at the benefits of robots in machining, and how researchers are overcoming some of the traditional constraints of using robots for machining applications.
Providing unique overview of government focus and investment in main robot markets around the world
Jul 17, 2020 — A new paper, ‘World Robotics R&D Programs’ from the IFR Research Committee sets out for the first time an overview of public-sector research and development programs, policies and investment in robotics in the major robot-producing countries.
May 28, 2020 — A new communications technology model developed by OPC Foundation members together with the mechanical engineering industry association in Germany and Europe (VDMA) paves the way for seamless communication between robots and other automation equipment.
Events
International Robot Safety Conference
November 03- November 05, 2025
ISR Asia 2025
November 05- November 06, 2025
58th International Symposium on Robotics
RobotWorld 2025
November 05- November 08, 2025
20th Anniversary in Seoul
iREX 2025
December 03- December 06, 2025
International Robot Exhibition
Trade shows for State-of-the-art robots and robot-related technology, and component technologies
Automate 2026
June 22- June 25, 2026
The latest in robotics, machine vision, AI, motion control, and more
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.