The number of research reports covering the robotics industry has quadrupled in the last three years. 38 have been previewed thus far in 2015. The latest batch of 15 new ones cover a wide range of segments as well as the overall industry.

These 53 reports are costly but often valuable to VCs, companies and their engineering and marketing research departments and academia. Many of the reports duplicate the coverage of others and frequently differ on forecasts. But bottom line, all the reports are forecasting positive double-digit growth for most segments of the robotics industry.

Note: The 15 reports recapped below are in addition to the 38 already reviewed in previous posts here on The Robot Report (1,2,3,4,5) all in 2015.

INDUSTRY WIDE

Global robotics market 2015-2019, August 26, 2015, 94 pages, Technavio, $2,500
Technavio estimates the global robotics to grow at a steady rate of around 26% CAGR through 2019. The growing adoption of industrial robots in developing countries is expected to drive this market during the forecast period and seeing huge demands from the automotive, electrical and electronic and food and beverages industry in the developing countries. This report is heavily focused on the industrial sector and appears to omit the defense/space and rapidly emerging service sector.

Global robotics technology market, May, 2015, Allied Market Research, $4,515
This report is segmented by types of robots, components, applications and geography. Types of robots include industrial, service and mobile; components include hardware, software and services; market applications include healthcare, defense and security, aerospace, automotive, electronics, domestic and other. Forecast charts cover 2014 through 2025.

SEGMENTS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY

Patent Analysis of Medical Robotics, May 12, 2015, 21 pages, Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute, $2,000
Major sectors and fields, top 30 patent assignees, and various patent deployment strategies. Software bots such as diagnostic systems are included. Virtual robots such as IBM’s Watson and some other research systems are blurring the line between what’s a robot.

Smart Robots (virtual & physical), July, 2015, 143 pages, Markets and Markets, $4,650
Defined (by them) as autonomous robotic systems, this report examines collaborative, personal service, professional service and software robots and forecasts rapid growth of 19.22% CAGR by 2020. A wide range of companies featured include Amazon, Google and Honda Motor Co. and 15 others.

Medical Robotics Market, April, 2015, 180 pages, IndustryARC, $5,250
Reports the drivers and restraints on growth ​and forecasts the industry to grow at a 12% CAGR through 2020. Profiles Hansen Medical, Intuitive Surgical, Mazor Robotics, Accuray, Titan Medican, Renishaw, Ekso Bionics, Varian Medical Systems, Stereotaxis and 15 other companies.

US Residential Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Industry, August 7, 2015, 255 pages, QYResearch, $3,800
Provides a basic overview of the industry including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status – but only within the U.S. Covers vendors LG Electronics, iRobot, Samsung, Neato Robotics, Philips, Dyson, Panasonic, ECOVACS, Electrolux and 20 others.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, September 16, 2015, 65 pages, Technavio, $2,500
Provides the drivers and challenges for market growth, profiles vendors such as Fugro, Kongsberg Maritime, Oceaneering, SAAB, Teledyne, Atlas Elekronik, Bluefin Robotic, Boston Engineering and Palmarii Dynamics, and forecasts the market to grow at a CAGR of 20.65% through 2019.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles II, July 2015, 185 pages, IndustryARC, $6,000
This report, with the same name as the Technavio one above, forecasts an 11% CAGR through 2020 and includes profiles of some different vendors (along with many of the same) including Deep Trekkers, Forum Energy Technologies, Subsea7, FMC Schilling Robotics, ECA Robotics and 25 others.

Robotics in Electronic & Electrical Industry, June, 2015, 86 pages, TechNavio, $2,500
Covers the present and growth prospects of the global industrial robotics market in electronic and electrical industry during the period 2015-2019 and forecasts the industry to grow at a 5.43% CAGR through 2019.

Global UAV/Drones Market Opportunities, June, 2015, 126 pages, BIS Research, $3,799
The report tries to answer various aspects of the UAV market; factors driving the UAV market, threats that can possibly slow down the market growth and the present growth opportunities that are going to shape the market expansion of UAVs. and forecasts the market to increase by almost 70% to $11.95 billion by 2020 with a CAGR of 8.41% from 2015 to 2020.

Agricultural Robots Market, August 26, 2015, 85 pages, TechNavio, $2,500
The name is a misnomer as the report only includes livestock management, cattle feeding and cleaning, and wildlife conservation. However, they forecast an 11% growth rate through 2019 for this limited universe. For these subsets of the overall ag industry they profiled DeLaval, Lely, Yamaha, BouMatic Robotics, Fullwood Automation and a few others.

Global and Chinese Service Robotics, July 2015, ASKCI Consulting, $3,500
This report is skewed to reflect the growth of the service robotics industry in China. Many Chinese resources are mentioned in the report and revenue from service robots in China is forecast to exceed $860M by 2019.

Industrial robot speed reducer industry, June 27, 2014, re-released in August, 2015, 58 pages, Research in China, $1,500
This is an important category. One third of the build-out of a robot is represented in this market which has been captured by Japanese manufacturers Nabtesco, Harmonic Drive and Sumitomo. China is making a push to manufacture these necessary components in-country, hence the interest in their new manufacturers Shaanxi Qinchuan Machinery Development Co., Ltd., Nantong Zhenkang Machinery Co., Ltd., Leader Harmonious Drive Systems Co., Ltd. and Shuaike Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The report forecasts a doubling of the Chinese production by 2016.

THE ULTIMATE RESOURCE

Finally, the ultimate resource and the backbone for most of these other research reports, is the International Federation of Robotics’ annual World Robotics Industrial and World Robotics Service Reports. This is the official tabulation from all the robot associations around the globe. The 2015 report covering 2014 activity are available now. The two reports can be purchased for $2,667.