Robotics, vision, motion control set North America growth records

Data from the US based Association for Advancing Automation (A3) revealed that 2017 was a milestone year for the North American robotics market as it surpassed previous high-water marks in all four statistical categories: order units, order revenue, shipment units, and shipment revenue.

The number of robots sold in North America last year surpassed all previous records. Customers purchased 34,904 total units representing $1.9 billion in total sales. These numbers show growth of 0.9% in units and 0.1% in dollars from 2016. While automotive-related orders were down compared to the previous year (-7.3% in units and -3.8% in dollars), non-automotive orders fuelled the rise in 2017 with 20.5% growth in units and 7.3% in dollars.

A3’s annual report on automation and robotics market statistics also showed that more imaging components and systems were sold than ever before last year as demand for machine vision solutions reached record levels in North America. In 2017, total machine vision financial transactions in North America grew 14.6% over 2016 to $2.6 billion.