IFR: Professional service robot sales rose 24 percent to almost 250,000 units in 2025

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) said in Frankfurt on 30 September 2026 that sales of professional service robots rose 24 percent to almost 250,000 units in 2025. The figures come from the federation's World Robotics 2026 Service Robots report, which is dedicated to service robots.

• Transport and logistics robots lead with 117,500 units (up 21 percent) and a 47 percent share; they are mainly used for material flows, transportation and deliveries.
• Hospitality robots, mostly mobile guidance robots, public information points and telepresence systems, rank second, followed by cleaning robots, where floor cleaning is the main use.
• Medical robots grew 19 percent; surgical robot sales rose 57 percent to 8,400 units.
• About 7,000 full-size humanoid robots taller than 140 centimeters were sold in 2025. The IFR says wider use is held back by safety standards, the cost of training and maintenance, and a business case that is still weak, above all in industry.

Sales of consumer robots rose 37 percent to almost 34.2 million units. IFR President Jane Heffner pointed to double-digit growth in each of the three segments: professional service, medical and consumer robots.

Why it matters

The federation says outright sales are still how most vendors make money, while robots-as-a-service (RaaS) offerings keep winning ground and already lead as the main business model in the United States. For Turkish companies running warehouses, distribution centers or large facilities, this could mean a growing option to try logistics and cleaning robots for a usage fee instead of a large upfront investment. On humanoid robots, the IFR notes that most current applications remain specialized and often need human teleoperation, which suggests wide use is still some way off.

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