Source: ABB Robotics

According to Radiant Insights, increased emphasis on production quality in order to ensure survival in the competitive manufacturing sector is also expected to drive the industrial robotics market. Growing measures pertaining to laborers' safety have resulted in substitution of manual labor in industries by robots, thereby augmenting industrial robotics demand.

The report adds that growing adoption of robots in non-automotive applications such as electronics, chemicals, and food & beverages has opened up new avenues for industrial robotics in recent years. High installation costs may make industries in developing markets circumspect about the adoption of robots, which may hinder market growth. Unavailability of skilled labor and technicians is expected to pose a challenge to companies operating in the market.

Further key findings from the study suggest:

• Automotive robots accounted for the highest market volume share in 2013 and are expected to dominate the market over the forecast period owing to the opening up of avenues through new markets and technologies. Adoption of robots in food processing and heavy machinery industries is expected to grow at a high rate throughout the forecast period.

• Asia Pacific constituted a key regional market in 2013, which can be primarily attributed to significant investments by automotive manufacturing companies in their pursuit of extending global influence. China, Japan, and Korea dominated industrial robotics installation in 2013, whereas India, Taiwan, and Singapore are expected to show high growth potential. Modernization of factories, coupled with increase in production capacities has accelerated the pace of robot installations in North America. Substantial investments in robotics by automotive industries in Europe resulted in several robots being installed, with Germany leading the number of installations.

• The global industrial robotics market is characterized by the presence of several Japanese suppliers such as Fanuc , Denso , and Motoman . Europe consists of major specialized industrial robotics companies such as Comau and Kuka , as well as renowned conglomerates having a significant presence in the industrial robotics market space such as ABB and BAE Systems . Prominent robot clusters comprising suppliers, R&D and education institutions have been formed worldwide. For instance, U.S. based iRobot comprises a cluster of spin-out companies, research institutes, and suppliers.