The world market for industrial robots was worth an estimated $8.2 billion in 2011 according to IMS Research. Around 68 percent of revenues were for articulated, and two-thirds of this were for robots designed for use in applications requiring a payload of above 15kg.

根據IMS Research的估計，2011年全球工業機器人的市場規模為82億美元。其中，關節式機器人的銷售約占68%，而三分之二的銷售來自在15公斤以上負載應用中使用的機器人。

To-date, industrial robots have typically been used for heavy-duty applications such as welding, palletising and assembly. However, in recent years there have been significant advances in machine vision, sensing and gripping, which has enabled robots to start being used in new industrial applications and unfamiliar sectors. The food, beverage and personal care and consumer electronics industries are forecast to be the two fastest growing sectors for industrial robots from 2011 to 2016,

growing at an average annual rate 8.6 percent and 8.0 percent respectively. Lower payload applications are generally more common in these industries.

目前，工業機器人通常被用于重型應用，如焊接、碼垛和裝配。然而，最近幾年在機器視覺、傳感和抓取的應用有顯著進步，這使得機器人開始被用于新的工業應用和之前沒涉及的行業。食品飲料和個人護理，以及消費電子行業預計將成為2011年至2016年工業機器人增長最快的兩個行業，年均增長分別可達8.6％和8.0％。在這些行業中，較低的負載應用一般比較常見。

Kiran Patel, analyst at IMS Research explains, “The consumer electronics industry is characterised by many labour-intensive assembly processes. Traditionally, work has been carried out by hand in regions of low labour cost, such as China. In recent years, wages have been rising per year in term of U.S. dollars (around 14 percent according to Chinese government statistics); also young people are more likely to enter further education than pursue industrial apprenticeships. Consequently, labour has become more scarce and expensive. Patel continues “The interest in industrial robots has increased in labour-intensive industries as companies look to automate and cut costs. Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn has announced that it plans to deploy one million industrial robots in its plants in 2-3 years. Whether or not this does come into fruition is another question but this certainly points towards the growing application of industrial robots in the industry.”

IMS Research分析師KiranPatel說，“消費電子行業的特點是許多勞動密集型的裝配過程。傳統上，在勞動力成本較低的地區，比如中國，一般是手工操作。近年來，折合美元的話，工資每年在不斷上升（根據中國政府的統計，大約為14％）；而年輕人更愿意繼續深造而不是追求成為工業學徒。因此，勞動力越來越稀缺和昂貴。”Patel繼續道：“隨著企業尋求自動化改造和降低成本，勞動密集型產業對工業機器人的興趣有所增加。臺灣電子產品制造商富士康宣布，計劃在2-3年內在其工廠部署一百萬臺工業機器人。無論這最終能不能實現是另外一回事，但這清楚地表明，工業機器人在行業的應用在不斷增長。”

In the food and beverage industry, greater purchase of robots has more to do with the fact that it is an industry that fluctuates less with changes in general economic activity. With economic uncertainty continuing in the Eurozone, manufacturers of industrial robots do not want all their revenues to come from automotive industry (which is one of the most sensitive to the rise and fall of the general economy). Manufacturers of robots have reacted by offering robots with a high protection class, making them applicable to food and beverage production.

在食品飲料行業，機器人采購量增加，更多的原因是因為這是受一般經濟活動的變化波動較小的一個行業。隨著歐元區經濟前景的持續不明朗，工業機器人制造商沒有將其所有的收入寄望于汽車行業（這是對整體經濟的上升和下降最敏感的行業之一），他們的應對措施是，提供具有高防護等級、適用于食品和飲料生產的機器人。

IMS Research predicts that from 2011 to 2016, revenues from articulated robots with a payload of below 15kg will grow on average by 6 percent a year. Investment in automating production of food & beverages and of consumer electronics will be the main contributors to this growth.

IMS Research預測，2011至2016年，15公斤以下負載的關節式機器人銷售將以年均6％的速度增長。食品飲料和消費類電子領域對自動化生產的投資將成為這一增長的主要貢獻力量。