The household robots market is expected to grow from USD 3.3 billion in 2019 to USD 9.1 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 22.4%. The increased need to automate household chores and fast adoption of household robots for domestic use are the key driving factors. Apart from this, technological improvements for greater usability and practicality is another market driver.
Compared to traditional vacuums, products such as robotic vacuums are relatively new to the market and have been available since a decade. The high demand for robotic vacuums, coupled with low market share and penetration of traditional vacuums, presents a huge opportunity for new market players. This has led to instances of rivalry, with several new companies entering into the marketspace charged with patent infringement. This has led to such companies withdraw their products from the market due to legal obligations. Chinese companies often offer cheaper alternatives, and this strategy has been successful in many instances. Eufy, a sub-brand of Anker (China), has been successful with its robotic vacuum line-up among consumers in the UK. This can lead to other companies reducing their prices to remain competitive. Companionship robots, on the other hand, are growing at a slower rate. A few of the companies have closed their operations due to lower than projected market penetration. Integration of voice assistants from Amazon (US) or Google (US) for household robots is likely to be an expected feature for all future products. Household robot manufacturers, therefore, have to rely on these companies for the integration of voice assistants.
The household robots market is segmented into 2 categories; domestic robots and entertainment and leisure robots. Domestic robots are expected to grow at a significant rate from 2019 to 2024 when compared with entertainment and leisure robots. Domestic robots include applications such as vacuuming, lawn mowing, pool cleaning, and window cleaning. Vacuuming application accounts for the largest market share. Several robotic vacuum manufacturers, to sustain in this highly competitive market have started offering cheaper products. Adopting such a business strategy can help new players penetrate the market. Elderly and handicap assistance robots are expected to have the largest share in the entertainment and leisure segment. Elderly and handicap assistance robots are expected to have a substantial market growth in the future due to an increase in the elderly population worldwide. Catering to the elderly and handicap assistance can help market players to bring significant revenues in the future.
The household robots market for the lawn mowing application is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. It is expected that traditional lawn mowers or vehicular lawn mowers will be replaced by robotic lawn mowers. This can be attributed to the improvement of robotic lawn mowers in the past few years. Many such lawn mowers now operate silently and have provision for adjusting grass cutting height or speed. Software improvements and new features have been the major development areas for robotic lawn mowers, with features such as rain sensing, scheduling, area mapping and no-go zones, remote accessibility through smartphones, and motion detection. APAC and Europe present huge opportunities for robotic lawn mowers. The market in APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during 2019–2024. This growth can be attributed to the increasing demand for household robots in China, Japan, and South Korea, mainly for domestic robots. Because of technological and economic advancements, the overall demand for these robots is expected to increase across the aforementioned countries. Furthermore, government initiatives to strengthen elderly and handicap assistance in Japan are expected to fuel the growth of the household robots market in APAC during the forecast period. Players in the household robots market can reap the benefits of strong demand from the APAC region if they start partnering with distributors and retailers in developed countries.
