Personal Robot Sales to Exceed $5 Billion by 2015 Nov 5, 2009

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Advances in military and commercial robots will continue to trickle down to the consumer market, and components will see price declines driven by their use in other markets, according to the ABI Research market study "Personal Robotics 2009: Task, Security & Surveillance/Telepresence, Entertainment and Education Robot, and Robotic Components Markets Through 2015." The study says that the personal robotics market in 2009 will achieve a global value of $1.16 billion, and forecasts the market will more than quadruple by 2015, when worldwide shipments will be valued at $5.26 billion.

The report says that the personal robotics market encompasses consumer robotic products that have some intelligence, interface with their environment through sensors, and perform a desired function. This function may be to perform a task, to act as a security system, to entertain people, or to be used as an educational tool.

The study finds North America is the largest market for personal robots. The second-largest market for personal robots is the Asia-Pacific region, in part due to Japan, where the culture embraces robots. Western Europe will grow to become a significant market, but Europeans are interested less in the cachet of owning a robot, and more in how well the robot performs its task.

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