Alexa, Clean Your Room!

If science fiction movies hold the least bit of truth, it’s only a matter of time before robots will rise up and reach for world domination. Until that day comes, however, our metallic overlords in the making have a lot of cleaning to do.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, global unit sales of service robots for domestic tasks are set to nearly quadruple between 2018 and 2023, while dollar sales will roughly triple due to declining unit prices. The IFR expects 31 million little household helpers to be sold this year, the vast majority of which will be vacuum and floor cleaning robots, with lawn mowers also playing a minor role.

Entertainment/toy robots have yet to see a similar breakthrough as household robots have in recent years. Between 2018 and 2023, the IFR expects global sales to grow from 4.6 million to 6.7 million units, an average annual growth rate of just 8 percent compared to 30 percent in the household robot segment.