Popularity of entertainment robots grows amid pandemic

When Boston Dynamics posted its latest video of its robots performing gravity-defying acrobatics, this time dancing to The Contours’ “Do You Love Me,” the internet was agog. A YouTube clip of Atlas and Spot robots moving with balletic fluidity has racked up over 23 million views since Dec. 30 and countless warnings that the ‘Terminator series’ Skynet is upon us. Boston Dynamics, which Hyundai Motor Group is acquiring from SoftBank Group, makes robots that are not only practical, they’re fun to watch.

Long used by companies like Walt Disney Imagineering, robots are emerging as entertainers even as the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the rollout of various kinds of robots that can help fight the virus and support society and the economy in a myriad of ways – from providing automation in factories and warehouses to working as medical assistants in hospitals and nursing homes. As the world looks to vaccines and the reopening of economies, intelligent machines will be taking on an increasingly public role as entertainers. Entertainment robots as a market could grow 10% annually through 2023 as more public venues embrace machines that do not tire, get sick or need to be quarantined, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).   

The IFR classifies entertainment robots as a kind of service robot, a broad category including everything from hospital delivery droids to edutainment robotic toys. The category grew 32% from $8.5 billion to $11.2 billion in 2019. Sales of entertainment robots were up 13% to 4.6 million units in 2019, and had a potential growth of 10% to 5.1 million units in 2020 and 6.7 million units in 2023, according to the IFR.

One country making great strides in this nascent market is Japan, known for its prowess in robotics. In 2018, Japan was the world’s top industrial robot manufacturer and delivered 52% of the global supply, according to the IFR. Japan has actively embraced robotics as its population shrinks, its workforce shrinks and the coronavirus pandemic makes human interaction difficult.

Companies in Japan recently unveiled a giant robot that can move its arms and legs, appearing to walk. Nearly 60 feet tall, about half the height of the copper Statue of Liberty, the machine is inspired by the Gundam science fiction series and is drawing fans in Japan and on the internet.

Just south of Tokyo, Gundam Factory Yokohama recently opened as the culmination of a long-term project to build a life-sized, mobile version of the titular robot from Mobile Suit Gundam. Yoshiyuki Tomino’s wildly successful anime franchise spawned a merchandise empire now worth some 78 billion yen ($758 million) in annual sales. The series is a sprawling science fiction epic in which people pilot giant robots in a space war. While other likenesses of Gundam robots have been erected since 2009, the one in…