By 2030, the global robotics landscape is expected to undergo a seismic shift, with service-oriented machines finally eclipsing their industrial counterparts. At the 2026 Humanoid Robot Technology Application Summit, Liu Fei, Chief Strategic Technical Officer of Keenon Robotics, projected that the total market will swell to 1.12 trillion RMB (approximately $155 billion). This growth represents a robust 20% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), signaling a maturation of the sector from experimental technology to essential infrastructure.
While industrial robots have long been the backbone of the sector, the real story lies in the 'professional service' segment. This category, which includes machines designed for logistics, healthcare, and hospitality, is forecasted to grow at a staggering 24.6% annually. By the end of the decade, professional service robots are expected to account for 6300 billion RMB of the total market, officially becoming the industry's largest sub-sector.
This transition is driven by a convergence of demographic pressures and technological breakthroughs. As aging populations in major economies like China and Japan create acute labor shortages in the service sector, the demand for 'embodied AI'—robots that can navigate complex, human-centric environments—has moved from a luxury to a necessity. Companies like Keenon, which initially gained fame for restaurant delivery bots, are now positioning themselves at the center of this broader automation wave.
The rise of service robots is fundamentally different from the previous era of factory automation. Unlike industrial arms fixed to a shop floor, these next-generation machines must interact with the public, requiring sophisticated sensors and adaptive intelligence. The data suggests that the hardware is finally catching up with the software, allowing for a scalable rollout of autonomous assistants in hospitals, hotels, and retail spaces across the globe.