Analysts therefore expect a strong recovery in the market after a brief dip, with an average annual growth rate of more than 20 percent until 2029, according to the Interact Analysis Group, thanks primarily to China and SME investments.

The progress made with cobots is currently extraordinary. A current example is the Ultra Accuracy option with which ABB is supplementing the GoFa family. According to ABB, this gives the series more than ten times better path accuracy than conventional cobots, which is relevant for precise grinding and milling or quality inspection, i.e., areas where cobots have often reached their limits in the past. So it comes as no surprise that Finnish supplier Mesekon, for example, is achieving higher welding quality and efficiency thanks to GoFa.

Programming hurdles are being removed

End-of-arm specialist OnRobot is also one of the industry's innovation drivers and is promoting the concept of “plug-and-produce” with D:PLOY. With what it claims to be the industry's first automated platform for creating, executing, monitoring, and reassigning collaborative applications, the Danish company wants to make it possible to set up packaging cells “in hours” instead of the usual several days – with the combined advantages of lower integration costs, a faster ROI, and easier changeovers.

Heavy-duty cobot sets the pace

Also from Denmark comes the UR18, which Universal Robots (UR) unveiled in October. The compact heavy-duty cobot is designed to achieve higher cycle times on smaller footprints. According to UR, the UR18 combines strength and agility and supports larger end effectors to lift heavier payloads, while remaining light enough for easy mounting on most standard gantry systems. With a reach of 950 mm and speeds of up to 4 m/s, it is said to be ideal for fast pick-and-place applications where reducing cycle times is critical. Thanks to its low weight of 39 kg, the UR18 can be flexibly installed on standard gantries. The Danish company is thus targeting businesses that want to integrate cobots into existing systems quickly and cost-effectively.

New robot standard ensures greater safety in HRC

As human-robot collaboration (HRC) has changed significantly in recent years due to rapid advances in the field of cobots, the recently revised ISO 10218-2:2025 standard ensures greater safety. As new technologies and integrated safety functions, AI-supported systems, and networked production environments have created new risks but also new opportunities, the updated standard specifies the requirements for the planning, integration, operation, and maintenance of robot applications. It thus forms a stable foundation for mixed human-robot cells and for approval by authorities and insurers. Among the most important revisions to the standard are the biomechanical limits that define the forces and pressure loads permissible in a collision between humans and robots, as they form the basis for the safety design of collaborative applications.