Every year new reports show that robots are becoming cheaper and easier to operate, thus finding their way into new use cases and industries. Developments in key technologies such as end-of-arm-tooling, machine vision and machine learning make robots more flexible in use and open for new possibilities.

Will robots become cheaper?

Over the past 30 years, the average robot price has fallen by half in real terms, and even further relative to labor costs (Exhibit 1). As demand from emerging economies encourages the production of robots to shift to lower-cost regions, they are likely to become cheaper still.

How do robots lower costs?

The fast-operating speeds, 24-hour operation, and precision of industrial robots all reduce cycle times. Faster cycle times are the result of an efficient process and the less time is spent on producing a product the less money it will cost.