Global shipments of professional service robots increased 24% to almost 250,000 units in 2025, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), as commercial applications continued to expand.
The figures are contained in the IFR’s World Robotics 2026 Service Robots report, which found growth across professional, medical and consumer service robot segments.
“Service robots are expanding into everyday operations,” said Jane Heffner, President of the IFR. “Sales went up across all three segments with double-digit growth rates: professional service robots gained 24%, medical robots grew 19%, and consumer service robots surged by an impressive 37%.”
Transportation and logistics remained the largest application for professional service robots, with 117,500 units sold in 2025, up 21% and accounting for 47% of the market. The robots are used for transportation, material-flow automation and delivery processes.
While traditional sales remained the main commercial model, the IFR said robot-as-a-service (RaaS) models continued to gain popularity, with the model already dominant in the US.
Hospitality robots ranked as the second-largest application, covering uses such as mobile guidance, information points and telepresence. Professional cleaning robots followed, with floor cleaning representing the main application.
The report also identified humanoid robots as an emerging market. Around 7,000 full-size humanoids, defined as robots above 140 centimetres, were sold globally in 2025 for commercial and professional applications outside research and entertainment.
The IFR said current humanoid applications remain largely specialised, with some requiring human teleoperation. It also identified safety standards, training and maintenance costs, and the development of viable business cases as challenges to wider adoption.
“For humanoid robots to become practical everyday tools, further progress in intuitive programming, robust manipulation, economic scaling, and standardized safety is essential,” the organisation said.
“In a special chapter of the World Robotics 2026 report, we provide a comprehensive overview about humanoids as the robotics newest market,” said Dr Werner Kraus, Chair of the IFR Service Robot Committee.
The IFR also reported 34.2 million consumer service robots sold in 2025, representing 37% growth, while medical robot sales included 8,400 surgical robots, which grew 57% and accounted for the main driver of growth in medical robotics.
The organisation cautioned that the service robot figures are based on a sample of 238 suppliers and are not projected to represent the entire industry. It also said changes in sample composition mean comparisons between different World Robotics reports are discouraged.
