"Driven by customer demands for product quality, delivery, and mass customization collaborative robots (cobots) are taking off in industrial applications, especially for high mix, low volume, and short cycle time environment," said Dr. Jing Bing Zhang, Research Director for IDC Worldwide Robotics at IDC Manufacturing Insights. "While being safe is a paramount prerequisite for any cobot, the market is already shaping the development of cobots towards 5S: safety, security, smartness, simplicity, and standardization," added Zhang.

China takes a significant share of the Asia Pacific robotics (including drones) market. Its spending on robotics is expected to reach $77 billion, representing 61% of APEJ region's total spending in 2022.

From an industry sector perspective, the manufacturing and resources sector, which includes discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, resources and construction, remains the largest spender on robotics (including drones) throughout the forecast period, and is expected to account for over 67% of APEJ region's total spending in 2022. This is followed by the public sector, which will chalk up approximately 11% of the APEJ total spending in 2022.

From a technology perspective, APEJ spending on robotics systems (including drones), which includes industrial, service and consumer robots and after-market hardware, is forecast to grow to $80 billion in 2022.