RESEARCH NEWS
Investment into robotics research
Economies around the world are investing in robotics to support industry and society . But government research and development ( R & D ) programmes are following different strategies . ‘ World Robotics R & D Programs 2025 ’, recently published by the International Federation of Robotics ( IFR ), analyses official funding strategies in Asia , Europe and the Americas .
“ The 4th edition of the ‘ World Robotics R & D Programs ’ covers the latest funding developments , including updates in 2024 ,” said Prof . Dr . Jong-Oh Park , Vice Chairman of the IFR Research Committee and member of the Executive Board . “ Thirteen countries are in the list ; Singapore and Canada [ appeared ] for the first time in this publication .”
China , Japan and Korea
Image : Photoneo .
In China , the “ 14th Five-Year Plan ” for the development of the robotics industry runs until 2025 . The programme , published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ( MIIT ) in Beijing in December 2021 , focuses on promoting innovation . The aim is to make China a world leader in robotics technology and industrial development .
“ The ‘ Key Special Programme on Intelligent Robots ’ has been updated in July 2024 . The budget of about US $ 45.2 million ( about CNY 329 million ) promotes the development of independent key sectors of the national economy . Key targets include fundamental frontier technologies e . g . training of generative AI models ,” said the IFR .
The recent statistical yearbook , “ World Robotics ” by IFR , shows that China reached a robot density of 470 units per 10,000 workers in the manufacturing industry . The country ranks third worldwide in 2023 . China only entered the top 10 in 2019 . It has managed to double its robot density within four years , said the IFR .
“ In Japan , the ‘ New Robot Strategy ’ aims to make the country the world ’ s number one robot innovation hub . The ‘ Moonshot Research and Development Programme ’, launched in 2020 , will run until 2050 with a budget of US $ 440 million ( JPY 25 billion ). Ten Moonshot goals have been set in the areas of society , environment and economy to achieve ‘ human wellbeing ’. These include
issues facing society in the future , such as an ageing population and global warming . The programme promotes the realisation of AI robots that learn autonomously , adapt to their environment , evolve in intelligence and act alongside humans ,” added the IFR .
According to the IFR ’ s statistical yearbook “ World Robotics ”, Japan is the world ’ s number one industrial robot manufacturer . The country globally ranked in fifth place with 419 units per 10,000 workers installed .
“ In Korea , the government announced the ‘ 4th Basic Plan on Intelligent Robots ’ in January 2024 , which will run until 2028 . An investment of US $ 128 million ( KRW 180 billion ) supports the development of the robotics industry as a core industry for
the Fourth Industrial Revolution , as well as innovation in manufacturing and services . Key targets are to improve technology , manpower and corporate competitiveness which constitute the foundation of the Korean robotics industry . The country aims to strengthen strategic inter-company , international and inter-regional cooperation for the robotics industry ,” explained the IFR . “ World Robotics ” by IFR lists Korea as the world ’ s number one adopter of industrial robots with 1,012 robots per 10,000 employees . Robot density has increased by 5 % on average each year since 2018 .
Europe and Germany
Adjustments on an industrial robot and vision system .
“ Horizon Europe is the European Union ’ s key research and innovation framework programme . The budget is set at US $ 100- billion ( EUR 95.5 billion ) and runs until 2027 . Top targets are strengthening the EU ’ s scientific and technological bases as well as boosting Europe ’ s innovation capacity and competitiveness . The European Commission provides total funding of US $ 183.5 million ( EUR 174 million ) for the robotics-related work programme 2023-2025 that was partly updated in April 2024 . The focus is on industrial leadership in AI , data and robotics , clean energy transition and innovative health initiatives , to name a few ,” outlined the IFR . According to IFR ’ s “ World Robotics ” statistics , the European Union has a robot density of 219 units per 10,000 workers with Germany , Sweden , Denmark and Slovenia in the world ’ s top ten .
“ Germany ’ s R & D and innovation programme ‘ High-Tech Strategy 2025 ( HTS )’ runs until 2026 with a total budget set to US $ 369.2 million ( EUR 350 million ). The ‘ Robotics research action plan ’ will support the cross-connection of research centres such as ‘ Robotics Institute Germany ’, support skilled labour and bring robotics research results into application ,” continued the IFR .
The IFR ’ s “ World Robotics ” report lists Germany as the largest robot market in Europe — its robot density ranks fourth worldwide with 429 robots per 10,000 employees .
The United States
Robotics R & D programmes managed by the United States include basic research on Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Systems by the National Science Foundation ( NSF ), ‘ Space Robotics ’ by NASA and ‘ Military Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles ’ by the U . S . Department of Defense ( DoD ). The NSF ’ s research programmes support the development and use of robotics in workplaces , hospitals , communities and homes . The budget requested for 2024 is around US $ 70 million . The DoD ‘ s 2023 budget includes US $ 10.3 billion for autonomy and robotics technologies .
“ World Robotics ” by IFR shows that robot density in the United States hit 295 units in 2024 . The country ranks tenth in the world . For annual installations of industrial robots , the USA takes third position . n
16 | ismr . net | ISMR March 2025