ABI Research (News - Alert), provider of analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies, has reported a significant development in personal robot market in recent years. It is beyond just toys, although even in entertainment robots, there has been substantial improvement over the wind-up robots of the past, company officials said.

 

A wider range of task robots is in development. Entertainment robots have expanded in capability, leading to fall in price.

 

According to the ABI Research market study titled, “Personal Robotics 2009, Task, Security & Surveillance/Telepresence (News - Alert), Entertainment and Education Robot, and Robotic Components Markets Through 2015,” with demand and advances in military and commercial robots, there has been a decline in  its price and is driven by their use in other markets, like laser rangefinders in the automotive industry.

 

The ABI Research study finds that the personal robotics market in 2009 will achieve a global value of $1.16 billion, and forecasts the market will quadruple by 2015, when worldwide shipments will be valued at $5.26 billion.

 

The personal robotics market encompasses consumer robotic products that have some intelligence, interface with their environment through sensors to perform a task, to act as a security system, or to entertain people.

 

North America is the largest market for personal robots, according to the study. The second-largest market for personal robots is the Asia-Pacific region, in part due to Japan, where the robots have been popular since past several years. Western Europe is also catching up.

 

Marc Liggio, an author of the report, said that the main personal robot market segments that have thrived in recent years are vacuum cleaner robots and entertainment robots.

 

“Telepresence is a big buzzword in the personal robotics market. Robots with telepresence capabilities facilitate the interaction of a remote user with

people and the environment through the robot,” Liggio said. “Telepresence is a coming business solution which, while probably not sufficient in itself, may become a necessary component of personal robots.”