A new report by the International Federation of Robotics reveals that more than 380,000 industrial bots were sold in 2017—a 29 percent growth over the prior year.
Asia leads the pack: China had a massive 58 percent increase in industrial robots (robotic systems used for manufacturing) purchased year-over-year, coming in at 138,000 installed in 2017. That’s about a third of the manufacturing robots sold worldwide. South Korea, which has a higher density of robots than any other country, purchased 40,000 new bots last year.
Where does that leave the US? The US installed a comparatively paltry 33,000 robots. That’s still the most in North America, but it’s only a 6 percent rise from 2016. And even that small amount has already heavily influenced American politics.
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