The International Federation of Robotics recently released it's "World Robotics 2013 -- Industrial Robot" report. In a quest to find the best robotics investment for the long term, the report is an eye opener and offers several great insights.
Some of the big highlights of the report include forecasts of tepid growth in industrial robotics markets coupled with strength in certain markets, like China, and identifying a few niche markets set to experience solid growth rates. Two of these niche markets include defense and personal robotics, which is good news for AeroVironment, (AVAV 5.73%) and iRobot (IRBT 2.23%).
In the video below Motley Fool analyst Blake Bos breaks down the report and lets investors know where the investing opportunities and pitfalls could be in robotics after taking the report into consideration.
Editor's note: Blake's statement regarding 20 robots per person in China and 270-400 robots per person in a highly automated country was incorrect. The per-person metric should be: 20 robots per 10,000 employees in China and 270-400 robots per 10,000 employees in a highly automated country. Blake apologizes for and regrets his error.
