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ETO Research Almanac
Between 2016 and 2021, researchers published roughly
180,000
English-language articles on robotics
The global robotics literature grew
34%
between 2016 and 2021
Articles on robotics made up
12%
of all articles on artificial intelligence
Authors from private companies contributed to
3%
of robotics articles
What counts as "robotics" research?How precise are these numbers?What are the other caveats?
Data last updated May 17, 2023

Vital signs

178,410
robotics articles were released between 2016 and 2021 (estd.)
Statistic description
34%
growth in research between 2016 and 2021
Statistic description
12%
of all artificial intelligence articles focused on robotics

Citation impact

11
citations for the average robotics article
14
citations for the average artificial intelligence article

Countries

Documentation
20%
of robotics articles have American authors
Statistic description
25%
have Chinese authors
Statistic description
23%
have European authors
Statistic description
Country Articles (2016-2021)Documentation Growth (2016-2021) Global shareDocumentation Citations per articleDocumentation
China44,83581%25%11.2
United States35,15232%20%17.4
Japan13,009-1%7%7.2

Top-cited articlesDocumentation

Research organizations

Documentation
  • #1 Harbin Institute of Technology (China)
  • #2 Chinese Academy of Sciences (China)
  • #3 Beihang University (China)
Organization Articles
(2016-2021Documentation
Citations per article Documentation Country
Harbin Institute of Technology2,11712.7China
Chinese Academy of Sciences1,95125.7China
Beihang University1,52315.9China

Patents and industry

2%
of robotics articles are cited in patents
2%
of artificial intelligence articles are cited in patents
3%
of robotics articles had authors from private companies (vs 4% of artificial intelligence articles in general)
Statistic description
Company Articles
(2016-2021Documentation
Citations per article Documentation Country
Google307105.6United States
Toyota Motor Corporation20521.6Japan
Robert Bosch17121.1Germany