Turning Point in the Collaborative Robot Market: The Cobot Revolution Expanding from Manufacturing Automation to Service Industries
Editor
Explosive Growth of the Cobot Market and Changes in the Industrial Ecosystem
The collaborative robot (cobot) market is experiencing unprecedented growth, reshaping the global robotics industry. According to market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the global cobot market size is expected to grow from $18.5 billion in 2025 to $42.4 billion in 2030, maintaining a high annual growth rate of 18.1%. This significantly surpasses the overall industrial robot market’s annual growth rate of 12.3%, highlighting cobots as a new growth engine in the robotics industry. Notably, the regional growth pattern of the cobot market is significant. The Asia-Pacific region has emerged as the largest market, accounting for 42% of the total market, with South Korea, China, and Japan leading the adoption of cobots.
The key driver of the cobot market’s growth lies in its distinctive characteristics compared to traditional industrial robots. While conventional industrial robots operate in isolated environments with safety fences, cobots are designed to collaborate in the same space as humans. This feature has enabled cobots to penetrate small and medium-sized enterprises and new industrial sectors. According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the global cobot installations reached 790,000 units in 2024, a 31% increase from the previous year. Even more impressive is the continuous decline in the average price of cobots. The average price of a cobot, which was $55,000 in 2020, decreased by 24% to $42,000 in 2025, accelerating market expansion due to enhanced price competitiveness.
The competitive landscape among market-leading companies is also showing intriguing changes. Denmark’s Universal Robots still holds the top market share at 32.4%, but Asian companies are rapidly catching up. Japan’s Fanuc ranks second with 15.2%, and South Korea’s Doosan Robotics ranks fourth with 8.7%, showing the highest growth rate among Asian cobot companies. Notably, Doosan Robotics recorded a revenue of 124.7 billion won in 2024, a 43% increase from the previous year, and is continuously expanding its market share in North America and Europe. Another Korean cobot company, Rainbow Robotics, also saw a significant growth of 67% in 2024, with a revenue of 42.1 billion won, enhancing its presence in the global market.
Technological evolution of cobots is also a crucial factor supporting market growth. The latest cobots are equipped with AI-based vision systems, high-precision force sensors, and advanced safety features, enabling more sophisticated and safer operations. Switzerland’s ABB GoFa series handles payloads of up to 5kg while fully complying with ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066 safety standards. Germany’s KUKA iiwa series implements human-like movements with its 7-axis joints, offering precision at the 0.1mm level. These technological advancements are expanding the application range of cobots from simple assembly tasks to precision machining, quality inspection, and even assisting in medical surgeries.
Manufacturing Innovation and Expansion into New Application Areas
In manufacturing, where cobots are most widely and extensively utilized, improvements in productivity and quality are being demonstrated with concrete figures. Hyundai Motor Company introduced 127 Doosan Robotics M1013 cobots to automate the engine assembly line at its Ulsan plant in 2024. As a result, assembly time was reduced by 23%, and the defect rate decreased by 75%, from 0.8% to 0.2%. Notably, existing workers transitioned from simple assembly tasks to quality control and system monitoring roles, resulting in a 15% increase in average wages. This is a representative case showing that the introduction of cobots enhances the quality of work rather than replacing jobs.
Samsung Electronics also presents a leading example of cobot utilization. At its Pyeongtaek semiconductor plant, Samsung automated semiconductor wafer handling tasks using ABB’s YuMi cobots. Previously, workers had to manually move wafers in a cleanroom environment, but after the introduction of cobots, wafer damage due to human error decreased by 90%. Additionally, the ability to operate continuously for 24 hours increased daily production by 18%. Based on these results, Samsung Electronics announced plans to introduce an additional 2,400 cobots to its global production lines by 2025.
The potential of cobots is also being demonstrated in new application areas beyond manufacturing. In healthcare, cobots are being utilized for various tasks such as surgical assistance, drug dispensing, and patient transport. Seoul National University Hospital introduced Fanuc’s CR series cobots in 2024 to automate pharmacy operations. The system, which accurately dispenses and packages medications according to prescriptions, reduced drug dispensing errors by 99.2%, allowing pharmacists to spend more time on patient consultations and medication guidance. This system processes an average of 1,200 prescriptions per day, reducing processing time by 40% compared to previous methods.
The retail industry is also seeing an expansion in cobot utilization. Lotte Mart introduced cobots for inventory management on a trial basis in some stores in 2024. Developed based on Universal Robots’ UR10e, this system monitors product display conditions in real-time and automatically replenishes out-of-stock items. As a result of the trial operation, the product out-of-stock rate decreased from 12% to 3%, and the time employees spent organizing products was reduced by an average of 2.5 hours. Based on these results, Lotte Mart plans to expand the introduction of cobots to 15 major stores in the metropolitan area by the first half of 2025.
The use of cobots in logistics centers is also showing notable achievements. Coupang introduced 89 Rainbow Robotics RB series cobots to automate product sorting tasks at its Gimpo logistics center. Combined with AI vision technology, this system accurately recognizes and sorts products of various sizes and shapes. After implementation, the hourly sorting throughput increased by 58%, from 2,400 to 3,800 items, and the sorting error rate improved significantly from 0.3% to 0.05%. Coupang stated that the 24-hour continuous operation capability of cobots has significantly improved the quality of night delivery services.
Intensifying Global Competition and Future Outlook
With the rapid growth of the cobot market, competition among global companies is also intensifying. Market leader Denmark’s Universal Robots recorded a revenue of $420 million in 2024, maintaining its top market position, but Asian companies are rapidly catching up. Particularly, Chinese companies, with their price competitiveness, are quickly expanding their market share. China’s Han’s Robot ranked third globally in terms of cobot shipments in 2024, gaining popularity in the SME market with an average selling price 30% lower than Universal Robots.
Korean companies are also establishing unique positioning in the global competition. Doosan Robotics saw an 89% increase in revenue in the North American market in 2024, receiving high evaluations, especially among automotive parts manufacturers. This is due to the high precision and stability of Doosan Robotics’ cobots, along with easy maintenance. Rainbow Robotics is focusing on AI-based autonomous control technology to differentiate itself. The RB-Y series, released in 2024, features deep learning-based object recognition capabilities, allowing it to learn new tasks without pre-programming. Based on this technological advantage, Rainbow Robotics plans to actively enter the European market in 2025.
Investment trends show a surge in investments in cobot-related companies. Global venture investments in cobots totaled $2.3 billion in 2024, a 67% increase from the previous year. Investments are particularly concentrated in AI-based cobot control technology and cloud-based robot management platforms. U.S. company Cognex acquired AI vision technology startup Visonic for $180 million to strengthen the development of intelligent vision systems for cobots. Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund invested $70 million in German cobot software company Dragonfly to support the development of cobot programming automation technology.
Government policies are also supporting the growth of the cobot market. The Korean government announced the ‘K-Robot 2030 Strategy’ in 2024, stating that it will invest 2 trillion won over the next six years to foster the cobot industry. Of this, 40% will be allocated to cobot-related R&D and commercialization support. China has set a goal to triple the current cobot adoption rate by 2030 through its ‘Robot Plus’ policy. The European Union is supporting the development of human-robot collaboration technology with €1.5 billion through the ‘Horizon Europe’ program, focusing particularly on developing guidelines emphasizing safety and ethical aspects.
The future outlook for the cobot market is very bright. Market analysts predict that by 2030, cobots will account for 35% of the overall industrial robot market, nearly doubling from the current 18%. Notably, the application areas of cobots are continuously expanding. Cases of cobot adoption are increasing in traditionally robot-limited fields such as agriculture, construction, cleaning, and security. Dutch agricultural company Vegibot developed a cobot for lettuce harvesting to address labor shortages, and Japanese construction company Takenaka is using cobots for material transport and assembly tasks at construction sites, improving work efficiency by 30%.
However, there are challenges to address alongside the growth of the cobot market. The biggest challenge is standardization and interoperability. Currently, different programming languages and control systems are used by each manufacturer, making it difficult for users to operate multiple brands of cobots simultaneously. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is working on cobot standardization to address this issue, with plans to release an integrated standard in the second half of 2025. Additionally, concerns about the safety of cobots still exist. Although cobots are designed to collaborate with humans, ensuring safety in unexpected situations is a critical issue. To address this, the industry is focusing on developing more sophisticated safety sensors and AI-based risk prediction systems.
Overall, the cobot market is expected to continue its growth, driven by technological advancements, improved price competitiveness, and expanded application areas. As AI and IoT technologies advance, enhancing the autonomy and intelligence of cobots, they are likely to evolve beyond simple collaborative tools into true work partners. This transformation will offer new business models and value creation opportunities across various industries, including manufacturing, services, healthcare, and education, providing long-term growth opportunities for companies involved in cobots.
