The International Federation of Robotics, or IFR for short, has updated its global report on robotics research 'World Robotics R&D Programs'. The current version analyzes the strategies pursued by the countries in the various funding programs. Prof. Dr. Jong-Oh Park, Vice Chairman of the IFR Research Committee and member of the Executive Board: "The first version of our report 'World Robotics R&D Programs' was presented in June last year. Since then, dozens of countries have updated their robotics R&D programs. The five most advanced robotics countries - South Korea, Japan, Germany, the USA and China - have a very different strategic focus."

China drives economic growth

The goal of the 'Made in China 2025' strategic plan is clear: to improve the manufacturing capacities of Chinese industry. The development goals are based on continuous growth in industrial use. China wants to develop at least three leading enterprises with international competitiveness and create more than five clusters of robot-supporting industries.

In order to promote the rapid development of intelligent robot technology, the Chinese leadership launched a special program called "Intelligent Robots", which involves the innovation chain. The focus is on basic advanced technologies of intelligent robots, new generation robots, common key technologies, industrial robots, service robots and special robots.

According to the IFR yearbook 'World Robotics', China ranks 15th in the world with a robot density of 187 units per 10,000 workers in the manufacturing industry.

Japan strives for technology leadership

Japan is the world's leading manufacturer of industrial robots and covered 47% of global robotics demand in 2019. And this is set to continue: The aim of Japan's 'New Robot Strategy' is to elevate the country to first place globally in the field of robotics innovation. The aim is to increase the rate of robotization in the manufacturing sector by 25% for large companies and 10% for SMEs. In addition, the market for system integrators as intermediaries between manufacturers and users is to be expanded as an important performance indicator.

The action plan covers important areas of service robotics such as agriculture, infrastructure and healthcare. The Care & Medicine area alone has a budget of 997.3 million US dollars and supports healthcare data reform through practical robot applications and the use of artificial intelligence.

Germany puts the focus on people

The 'Horizon Europe' framework program supports research and development in the period from 2021 to 2027 and builds on the results of the 'Horizon 2020' program. Within this framework, the new edition is intended to support research, innovators and the general public in developing knowledge and solutions for a green, digital and healthy future. The robotics work program is embedded in Cluster 4 'Digital, Industry and Space'. Other robotics research and development projects focus on digital transformation in the manufacturing and construction industries, autonomous workforce support solutions, enhanced cognition and human-robot collaboration. The robotics-specific work program 2021-2022 in Cluster 4 will provide a total of 198.7 million euros.

Germany promotes partnerships between research and industry

The 'High-Tech Strategy 2025' in Germany is the fourth edition of the German research and innovation program. The aim is to quickly turn good ideas into innovative products and services. In order to bring together institutional research and entrepreneurial expertise, the largest part of the framework program therefore promotes partnerships between companies, universities and research institutions. By 2025, 3.5% of GDP is to be invested in research and development each year.

As part of the 'Technology for People' mission, the 'Together through Innovation' program was launched in 2020 to promote interactive technologies for health and quality of life. With this research program, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing around 70 million euros annually until 2026.

South Korea: Robotics as the core industry of Industry 4.0

With the Intelligent Robot Development and Supply Promotion Act, South Korea is promoting the development of the country's robotics industry as a core industry of the fourth industrial revolution. The focus areas are manufacturing companies with a special program to increase the competitiveness of SME manufacturing sites, certain areas of service robotics - including healthcare and logistics - as well as key components and software for robots. The South Korean government is planning a budget of USD 1.07 billion for the cross-government 'Full Cycle Medical Device Development' project between 2020 and 2025.

According to the IFR statistical yearbook 'World Robotics', the country increased its robot population by 13% in 2019 to a new record of around 319,000 industrial robots. Within five years, the country has doubled the number of industrial robots in operation. The country ranked third after Japan and China in 2019.

USA promotes fundamentals

In the USA, the National Robotics Initiative (NRI) was launched by the US government to support research and development in the field of robotics. The NRI-2.0 promotes collaboration between academic, industrial, non-profit and other organizations to achieve a better connection between basic science, engineering, technology development, deployment and use. A key sector is space robotics with the lunar program 'Artemis'. The aim of Artemis is to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024 and to develop promising resources for Mars missions in the period after 2024. 'Artemis' is a joint space program between NASA and international partners such as ESA (consisting of 22 countries), Canada, Japan and Russia. The US government is planning a budget of 35 billion US dollars for the years 2020 to 2024. The largest donor for the development of unmanned systems, including robotics, is still the US Department of Defense (DoD) with a planned budget of USD 7.3 billion in 2020 and 2021.

According to the 'World Robotics' yearbook, the robot density of the US manufacturing industry grew by 7% (CAGR) from 2014 to 2019 to 228 robots per 10,000 employees - this corresponds to 9th place worldwide. The country ranks third in terms of annual installations of industrial robots.

Downloads

You can download the Executive Summary here:

You can download the complete report 'World Robotics R&D Programs' at: https://ifr.org/r-and-d