Transport Robots Took 47% of 2025 Service Robot Shipments

What did IFR find for 2025 service robot shipments?

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) reports, in its World Robotics 2026 Service Robots release published September 30, 2026, that global shipments of professional service robots rose 24% to almost 250,000 units in 2025. Transport and logistics was the top application, with 117,500 units sold, up 21%, for a 47% market share. The IFR headline rounds that unit count to 117,000.

Those figures describe shipments reported by suppliers, not the number of robots working inside logistics buildings at any given moment. The service robot numbers come from a supplier survey, not a projection of the whole industry, and that difference matters when you read any share as a market signal.

• Professional service robots: up 24% (IFR, 2025)
• Medical robots: up 19% (IFR, 2025)
• Consumer service robots: up 37% (IFR, 2025)

Why does transport and logistics lead the mix?

Much of the lead comes from how IFR draws its lines. Mobile robots that carry goods fall under transport and logistics. Indoor settings without public traffic, such as warehouses and factories, sit in one subcategory, while indoor settings with public traffic, such as hospitals, hotels and restaurants, sit in another. Packaging, pick-and-place and palletizing are counted as industrial robotics in the companion report, so a palletizing cell does not inflate the service figure.

Secondary coverage of the release describes a shift from fixed-path guided vehicles toward autonomous mobile robots. That change in navigation is what lets one platform serve many routes, and it explains why goods movement became the segment that grew fastest in the mix. IFR's own definition is the anchor here: an AMR is a service robot, and if it carries an arm, the arm is counted separately as an industrial robot.

What does the 47% share mean for a US operator choosing a first robot?

A share is not a recommendation. Transport and logistics leads because goods moves are repetitive and easy to count, but the statistic says suppliers shipped many units into that application. It does not say every operator should begin there. For a US operator, the useful test is whether your own floor looks like the segment: repeated runs, defined routes, and a cost you already track in staff hours.

Start with the path, not the platform. An AMR deployment depends on accurate floor maps, a plan for doors, docks and elevators, charging locations, and a named person who answers when a route is blocked. Two jobs that look identical on a spreadsheet can differ sharply in public traffic, which is exactly the line IFR draws between its indoor subcategories.

Why IFR says not to compare these figures across reports

IFR cautions against comparing figures across reports because the sample composition can change from one edition to the next. The 2026 service robot report is based on a sample of 238 service robot suppliers. An IFR press slide notes that all numbers rest on a sample of 238 producers out of 1,001 manufacturers. A 2025 share is therefore one year's reported shipments, not a trend line you can extend.

Be careful when you line up 2026 numbers against older releases. Earlier IFR figures describe a different sample and sometimes a different measure, such as installations rather than shipments. A gap between two reports can reflect who was surveyed, not a change in what operators are buying. Read each release on its own terms, and cite the sample base with any figure you put in a board deck.

What slows adoption besides the robot price?

IFR names three obstacles: safety standards, high training and maintenance costs, and a business case that is hard to prove, particularly in industrial settings. Those three show up in almost every first deployment. Safety sign-off takes time, staff need to learn to work around the machine, and maintenance has to be planned before a unit stops in the middle of a shift.

IFR also states that traditional sales remain the main monetization channel globally, while robot-as-a-service models keep growing, and that in the US RaaS is already the dominant model. For a facility team, that means the financing structure is part of the decision, not an afterthought. The question is which payment shape lets you measure a result before you commit to a longer term.

How Service Robot Co. fits into a first robot decision

Service Robot Co. is a full-service commercial robot integrator for US businesses. We are OEM-neutral, so we select the right robot from across manufacturers for the route you actually run, then handle financing, deployment, integration, training and service through a nationwide US engineer network. One partner covers the whole lifecycle, which matters when a single blocked door can stall a fleet.

Our customers lease robots from us on a 3-year lease, with one fixed payment quoted after a site assessment. That assessment is where the route, traffic and charging questions get answered before any number is put on paper. If the segment headline has you curious, a site assessment tells you whether your floor fits it.