Globally, the deployment of Precision Specialist Robots is being driven across multiple industries by increasing blue-collar wages, ageing working populations, and the falling costs of robots. Additionally, the availability of 5G and private networks is encouraging the use of robots to perform complex and time-critical tasks such as remote surgery; it is being used in the healthcare industry to support healthcare professionals in multiple use cases, including minimally invasive surgery.
The Additive Manufacturing market is also growing, due to the ability to enable rapid prototyping, faster time to market, reduced material wastage, and on-demand production of customisable offerings. Some countries are also promoting the use of additive manufacturing to decrease their dependency on imported parts and components, bringing greater efficiency to the supply chain.
The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used and revenue.
A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector breakdowns and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.
This section begins by explaining the benefits of using precision specialist robots and additive manufacturing. For instance, precision specialist robots help companies make their operations more efficient by speeding up the production process by automating tasks that were previously executed manually. On the other hand, additive manufacturing allows businesses to achieve fast prototyping and lower retooling costs.
The market development section has been further categorised into the following sections and subsections:
This section discusses how industrial robots have significantly impacted economic growth by supporting manufacturers in achieving economies of scale. For example, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) claims that the number of operational industrial robots increased from 1.5 million in 2014 to 4.7 million in 2024.
This subsection charts the factors that lead to the rise in the number of industrial robots, such as the decreasing cost of robots and increasing labour prices in major manufacturing economies. It further adds that the countries that are witnessing an ageing workforce are increasingly leveraging industrial robots for performing and executing production activities. For example, by 2050, 30.9% of China’s population is expected to be 65 or older, and it accounted for more than 54% of the global robot installations in 2024.
This subsection talks about the major challenges (like the high integration cost of robotic technologies) that may hamper the adoption of industrial robots. For instance, one study found that deploying one industrial robot decreases the employment of a country by 3.3 workers. It also adds that if labour intensive industries don’t use robots to accelerate the production process, they may become uncompetitive and shut down eventually, endangering an even greater portion of the workforce.
It further notes that developed economies are now trying to repatriate manufacturing that has moved overseas since robots have now made such an exercise economical, and therefore, governments and companies are looking for solutions to reduce supply chain bottlenecks and reshore manufacturing. It also adds that despite the benefits, the industry may face significant challenges due to factors including the high integration cost of robotics technologies into manufacturing lines.
It discusses the correlation between the usage of industrial robots and manufacturing sectors, with a focus on some geographical locations (such as the US and China). It then claims that industrial robots are particularly common in the electronics and automotive manufacturing industries due to the high value of products and repetitive, high-speed production activities. It also refers to countries like India, which has become one of the leading adopters of robot installations in the manufacturing industry in recent years and has installed 9,100 robots in 2024.
It focuses on how industrial robots can ensure sustainable manufacturing for business organisations. It argues that industrial robots consume less energy, ensure limited human intervention, and reduce wastage. Case in point, an ultrasonic cutting system designed by Elliptical Design in partnership with TM Robotics can reduce production time by more than 50% and reduce waste generation by 83%.
This subsection talks about the crucial roles robots are playing in the healthcare industry (like performing complex operations by accessing hard-to-reach areas of the human body using magnified cameras and robots). It also points out the challenges behind their mass adoption (like their high costs).
This subsection defines collaborative robots or cobots and discusses their roles in workstations (such as pre-positioning components or delivering parts). It also talks about how the manufacturing sector is leveraging these cobots to deal with various challenges (like rising labour shortages). It further adds that although cobots are still in the early stages of adoption, they now possess 10.5% of the total industrial robotics market, owing to reasons such as increased consumer demand for personalised products.
This subsection charts some of the initiatives undertaken by various countries and regions (including China, South Korea, the EU, and India) towards the promotion of manufacturing of robots or the usage of robots across different industries. For instance, in 2026, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced its intention to invest USD2.2 billion by 2030 to boost the deployment of robots across industries.
This subsection talks about the preferred communication technology in industrial robots, how that scenario is changing (like how 5G technology is beginning to be used for data-intensive tasks requiring greater speeds and high bandwidth with low-latency communication), and the future prospects. It also mentions some relevant IoT deployments in this application, like Mercedes-Benz applying vehicle body sealer for corrosion and water protection using robots.
This section defines Additive Manufacturing (AM), the major reasons behind their increasing adoption (like allowing organisations to develop on-demand customisable products), and how they can be beneficial to companies (like supporting companies in producing lighter and cheaper parts). It also discusses how AM is better than traditional manufacturing (like a single 3D printing system producing multiple products without any retooling).
It then explains how additive manufacturing supports companies in producing lighter and cheaper parts, which can also reduce the number of components required to produce a specific part. For instance, GE claims that its Catalyst turboprop engine was manufactured using 12 3D printed parts in comparison to 800 parts used in traditional manufacturing methods.
It also lists other benefits of 3D printing, including lowering downtime caused by breakdowns and maintenance requirements, and further talks about the new and innovative 3D printing techniques that have been developed for faster and more efficient production of parts. Case in point, scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have developed a 3D printing technique using near-infrared (NIR) light to produce complex multi-material, multi-colour structures, which enables printing at depths exceeding 5cm, compared with 0.1mm using conventional technology.
This subsection talks about how various governments are also supporting the use of Additive Manufacturing to accelerate digital manufacturing to achieve better productivity gains through efficient manufacturing. For example, the US government launched the AM Forward initiative in May 2022, to support and promote small suppliers’ use of additive manufacturing to reduce lead times for components.
It discusses why the construction and aerospace industries are proving to be the early adopters of Additive Manufacturing. It adds that factors like a shortage of affordable homes is one of the major drivers in this market. For example, Icon is another construction technology company which takes less than 10 days to print a 1,000 to 2,000 square feet house.
After this, the focus shifts towards the aerospace and defence industries. It claims that since additive manufacturing enables the production of lighter parts, it supports the aerospace industry in fuel savings. Therefore, it is being adopted by the aerospace industry as well. This subsection also mentions some relevant IoT deployments in this application, such as Airbus leveraging 3D printing for flight parts production.
This subsection focuses on the integration of IoT in home-based 3D printing and talks about the host of possibilities this has enabled for small businesses and everyday consumers. For instance, users can now remotely access, monitor, and control their printing processes via mobile devices or computers. It also discusses how manufacturers are also responding positively to this demand and how this is benefitting the users. Lastly, it discusses the limitations of this arrangement (including the prohibitive cost of IoT-enabled 3D printers and security and privacy issues), which may affect their adoption. It also provides a few examples of various 3D printers in this space, like the Bambu Lab A1 3D Printer and Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo.
The key vendors section lists some of the main providers of products and services related to the precision specialist robots and additive manufacturing connected devices market, such as ABB, Bosch, Carbon, Denso, Fanuc, Honeywell, Kuka, Mitsubishi, Nachi Fujikoshi, Rockwell Automation, Staubli, Stratasys, Universal Robots, and Yaskawa. The report provides profiles of the various vendors, including aspects most relevant to this Application Group, such as product offerings, pricing, financial results, and technology.
In the market forecasts section, we provide a summary of the forecasts from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database:
The report charts the growth in the number of precision specialist robots and additive manufacturing connected devices, which will grow from 12.9 million units in 2025 to 26 million in 2035.
Transforma Insights forecasts are compiled on a country-by-country basis. This report includes a regional summary, showing splits between Australasia, Greater China, North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, MENA, Russia & Central Asia, South East Asia, South Korea, India & South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Transforma Insights’ IoT forecasts include splits between the various connectivity technologies as follows: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G mMTC, 5G non-mMTC, LPWA (non-mMTC), Satellite, Short Range, and Other.
This section discusses which technologies will be used in the precision specialist robots application group.
This part of the report discusses the market growth in terms of revenue (module revenue, service wrap revenue, and VAC revenue). Transforma Insights estimates that the revenue in the Precision Specialist Robots Application Group will grow at a CAGR of 10%.
