A German/Danish team of economists has leveraged data from some 1,900 Spanish companies to investigate the impact of robot use on efficiency. They found that companies expand their production by 20 to 25% after using robots for the first time, and that they also increase their number of employees by around 10% and reduce their labor costs by 5 to 7%, while maintaining the average wage. Companies that do not use robots, on the other hand, “have to contend with significant job losses and may even have to stop production completely,” reports the University of Flensburg , which participated in the study. The researchers point to a polarization between highly productive companies that use robots and low-productive companies that do not.

One option for companies to get an idea of the benefits of robots could be ‘Robots as a Service’ (RaaS). Business magazine ‘Forbes’ sees RaaS as a technology trend that “every business should consider”. Renting robots could help allay any reservations companies may have about robots and also help keep initial costs low.