4 Contents Executive summary ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Background ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Definition .......................................................................................................................................................................... 11 History ............................................................................................................................................................................. 12 Value chain ...................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Adoption .......................................................................................................................................................................... 13 2. Data and statistics ........................................................................................................................................................... 17 Growth ............................................................................................................................................................................. 17 Robot producers .............................................................................................................................................................. 19 Sectors ............................................................................................................................................................................ 21 3. Laws and regulations ...................................................................................................................................................... 23 Safety .............................................................................................................................................................................. 23 Standards ........................................................................................................................................................................ 24 Ethics in robot design ...................................................................................................................................................... 24 4. Wider impacts ................................................................................................................................................................. 27 Perceptions and acceptance ........................................................................................................................................... 27 Societal implications ........................................................................................................................................................ 27 Robot ethics..................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Jobs and skills ................................................................................................................................................................. 29 Robots and other digital technologies ............................................................................................................................. 31 5. A study of four sectors .................................................................................................................................................... 34 Industrial .......................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Agriculture ....................................................................................................................................................................... 37 Healthcare ....................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Retail ............................................................................................................................................................................... 42 6. Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................................... 45 References .......................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Appendix A: Glossary of terms - Robots ............................................................................................................................. 52 Appendix B: Safety standards ............................................................................................................................................ 53 Taking control: robots and risk