Autonomous Mobile Robot Patent Landscape 2026
Autonomous Mobile Robot Patent Landscape in 2026
The autonomous mobile robot field spans 5,770 patent families and is in a Growth stage, with the recent three-year window running 38% above the prior period, though annual volume eased from its 2023 peak. iRobot leads by a wide margin, the United States is the dominant filing jurisdiction, and control-of-motion remains the overwhelmingly dominant technical class.
iRobot leads a moderately concentrated field with a clear tier gap
iRobot Corporation holds the top position with 445 patent families, more than twice the count of second-ranked Toyota Motor Corporation at 208 patent families, establishing a pronounced gap at the very top of the ranking.
The top five filers — iRobot, Toyota, LG Electronics, NVIDIA, and Intel — together account for 26% of the combined output of the hundred largest filers, signalling moderate overall concentration. A second tier of strong challengers including Boston Dynamics, Honda, Canon, Omron, and Seegrid holds positions six through ten with counts ranging from 107 to 136 patent families each.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iRobot Corporation | 445 | |
| 2 | Toyota Motor Corporation | 208 | |
| 3 | LG Electronics Inc. | 166 | |
| 4 | NVIDIA Corporation | 161 | |
| 5 | Intel Corporation | 138 | |
| 6 | Boston Dynamics Inc. | 136 | |
| 7 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 130 | |
| 8 | Canon Inc. | 125 | |
| 9 | Omron Corporation | 109 | |
| 10 | Seegrid Corporation | 107 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Sony Group Corporation | 106 | |
| 12 | Hyundai Motor Company | 97 | |
| 13 | Seiko Epson Corporation | 85 | |
| 14 | Snap Inc. | 74 | |
| 15 | Jabil Inc. | 72 | |
| 16 | Hitachi, Ltd. | 71 | |
| 17 | Fuji Corporation | 68 | |
| 18 | Mobile Industrial Robots A/S | 63 | |
| 19 | PAPST LICENSING GMBH & CO KG | 63 | |
| 20 | SICK AG | 58 |
iRobot’s lead in autonomous navigation and household cleaning robotics reflects deep specialization, while Toyota and the automotive entrants signal that the competitive boundary is widening beyond dedicated robotics companies into automotive and semiconductor players.
The most recent filing years (2024–2026) are understated due to normal patent publication lag and should not be read as a slowdown; the multi-year growth trend remains positive. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Multi-year growth persists; motion control and manipulation dominate the technology mix
The filing trend and technology composition together reveal a field that expanded strongly from 2017 through 2023 and is technology-diverse, with a dominant core in robot control and a broad tail of adjacent application areas.
Annual filing trend
Filings grew from 230 in 2017 to a recorded peak of 1,046 in 2023, representing robust multi-year expansion. The apparent drop in 2024 and 2025 reflects publication lag rather than a genuine contraction; 2026 figures are early-stage counts only. The field is still expanding on a multi-year basis, though annual volume has eased from its 2023 peak.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
G05D (Control of non-electric variables) and B25J (Manipulators and robots) dominate the branch mix, reflecting the centrality of motion control and physical manipulation. A long tail of branches — including navigation (G01C), conveying (B65G), cleaning (A47L), and AI computing (G06N) — confirms that AMR technology spans far beyond core robotics into sensing, logistics, and data processing.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Augmented lidar (light detection and ranging) boun…
Techniques are disclosed where LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) boundaries are augmented for routing an autonomous mobile robot. LIDAR sensors on an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) detect multiple surfaces on a device coupled to an object. The detecting of the multiple surfaces by the LIDAR sensors creates a pattern recognizable by the LIDAR sensors. The… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Companion robot for personal interaction | 981 |
| 2 | Method and system for controlling a remote vehicle | 848 |
| 3 | Mobile Robot Providing Environmental Mapping for H… | 764 |
| 4 | Mobile robots and their control system | 694 |
| 5 | Navigational control system for an autonomous vehi… | 660 |
| 6 | Mobile robots and their control system | 630 |
| 7 | A Method and Apparatus for Collecting and Using Se… | 596 |
| 8 | Recharge docking system for mobile robot | 583 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of a Growth lifecycle stage, moderate concentration, active industry-academia collaboration, and broad geographic filing points to a field where differentiated positioning is still achievable but window is narrowing.
Growth stage with annual volume easing from 2023 peak
The field is classified as Growth: the recent three-year filing window sits 38% above the prior three-year window, confirming ongoing expansion on a multi-year basis. Annual volume peaked in 2023 at 1,046 recorded filings and has eased since, though publication lag means recent years are understated. Entrants still have a meaningful window, but foundational control and navigation IP is increasingly covered.
Growth · 38% recent windowModerate concentration with a pronounced leader gap
The top five filers hold 26% of the hundred largest filers’ combined output, a moderate share that leaves room for challengers. However, the gap between iRobot at 445 patent families and the second-ranked player at 208 families is large enough that displacing the leader in core household navigation would require sustained, targeted investment. The second tier from rank six to ten is tightly bunched, signalling competitive pressure among challengers.
Top-5 share: 26%Toyota leads industry-academia co-filing; iRobot collaborates with Evolution Robotics
Toyota Motor Corporation is the most active co-filer, partnering with Shizuoka University (5 joint filings), Iwate University (5 joint filings), Nagoya University (2 joint filings), Nagoya Denki Gakuen (1 filing), and the University of Tokyo (1 filing). iRobot Corporation has co-filed with Evolution Robotics (3 joint filings). This pattern suggests that academic alliances are a meaningful IP-building channel, particularly for manipulation and embodied-AI research.
Toyota most active co-filerUS dominant; China and Europe are material secondary markets
The United States leads all jurisdictions in patent record volume, followed by China, Europe (EPO), and Japan. Germany, South Korea, and India form a third tier. PCT filings indicate applicants are actively seeking broad multi-jurisdictional coverage. Any serious AMR IP strategy should include at minimum US, CN, EP, and JP filings to match where the technology and manufacturing base are concentrated.
US · CN · EP · JP coreGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Shizuoka University | 5 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Iwate University | 5 |
| iRobot Corporation | Evolution Robotics Inc. | 3 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Nagoya University | 2 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Nagoya Denki Gakuen | 1 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | University of Tokyo | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
iRobot leads in navigation and cleaning; Boston Dynamics and Canon are accelerating
The leader board spans dedicated robotics firms, automotive OEMs, semiconductor platforms, and imaging companies, reflecting the breadth of AMR applications. Momentum diverges sharply across the top tier.
iRobot Corporation
iRobot holds 445 patent families, the largest portfolio in scope. Its technical emphasis is firmly in G05D1 (autonomous motion control, 328 filings) and A47L (cleaning appliances, 133 and 122 filings respectively), reflecting its foundational household robotics focus. Recent-period momentum is down 64% versus the prior three-year window, suggesting the portfolio may be maturing or that internal filing strategy has shifted.
families: 445Boston Dynamics
Boston Dynamics ranks sixth with 136 patent families and shows the strongest momentum signal in the top tier — classified as a new entrant in the recent filing window with 123 recent-period filings, indicating rapid ramp-up from a small prior-period base. Its technical focus is concentrated in B25J (manipulator and mobile robot mechanics: 113, 58, and 43 filings across sub-classes), positioning it as the leading pure-play challenger in legged and dexterous mobile robotics.
families: 136| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| iRobot Corporation | 32 | ▼ -64% |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | 58 | ▼ -27% |
| LG Electronics Inc. | 16 | ▼ -87% |
| NVIDIA Corporation | 42 | ▼ -57% |
| Boston Dynamics Inc. | 123 | ▲ new entrant |
| Intel Corporation | 79 | ▲ +147% |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 22 | ▲ +29% |
| Canon Inc. | 85 | ▲ +183% |
Under-served branches adjacent to the AMR core
Several IPC branches sit at the lower-share edge of the AMR corpus, representing relatively sparse coverage relative to the dominant G05D and B25J core. These are observations of relative sparsity; technical and commercial value must be assessed independently.
G06Q · Business, commerce & administrative data processing
With 512 patent records, G06Q is adjacent to AMR deployment but lags far behind the dominant control and manipulation branches. AMRs increasingly interact with fleet-management, warehouse-orchestration, and last-mile logistics software stacks. The sparsity here, combined with the clear operational need for business-process integration in autonomous logistics, makes this a plausible area for differentiated filing — particularly for firms building full-stack AMR solutions rather than hardware-only.
Search this in Eureka →A47L · Cleaning & washing appliances
A47L holds 428 patent records, modest relative to the dominant G05D and B25J classes, despite cleaning robotics being the largest consumer AMR segment by deployed volume. Outside iRobot’s established position, this branch appears to have headroom for new entrants focused on commercial-scale cleaning robots, multi-surface adaptation, or hygiene-monitoring integration — areas where technical differentiation from household vacuum IP is achievable.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | G05D 1 · Control of non-electric variables | B25J 9 · Manipulators & robots | B25J 5 · Manipulators & robots | B25J 13 · Manipulators & robots | B25J 19 · Manipulators & robots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iRobot Corporation | Strong · 328 | Moderate · 115 | Emerging · 55 | Moderate · 76 | Emerging · 59 |
| LG Electronics Inc. | Strong · 109 | Strong · 80 | Moderate · 22 | Emerging · 20 | Strong · 58 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Strong · 150 | Moderate · 35 | Moderate · 44 | Emerging · 23 | Emerging · 9 |
| Boston Dynamics Inc. | Absent | Strong · 113 | Strong · 58 | Emerging · 22 | Moderate · 42 |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | Strong · 83 | Absent | Strong · 52 | Strong · 55 | Emerging · 10 |
| NVIDIA Corporation | Absent | Strong · 120 | Absent | Moderate · 41 | Absent |
| Seegrid Corporation | Strong · 78 | Moderate · 35 | Absent | Moderate · 20 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 5,770 patent families in scope across the global AMR technology space.
iRobot Corporation leads with 445 patent families, more than double the second-ranked Toyota Motor Corporation at 208 patent families.
The United States is the dominant jurisdiction, followed by China, Europe (EPO), and Japan. Germany, South Korea, and India form a secondary tier, and PCT filings indicate broad multi-jurisdictional intent among leading applicants.
Yes, on a multi-year basis. The recent three-year filing window is 38% above the prior three-year window, consistent with a Growth lifecycle stage. Annual filings peaked in 2023 and have eased since, but recent years are understated by publication lag and should not be interpreted as a genuine decline.
Boston Dynamics shows the strongest momentum, classified as a new entrant in the recent filing window with 123 recent-period patent families. Canon is also accelerating sharply (trend: +183%), and Intel shows significant growth (trend: +147%), both from meaningful prior-period bases.
The most-cited works include a companion robot for personal interaction (981 citations), a method and system for controlling a remote vehicle (848 citations), a mobile robot providing environmental mapping (764 citations), and patents covering mobile robot control systems, navigational control for autonomous vehicles, and recharge docking systems — all foundational to AMR navigation and autonomy.
Ready to map the AMR patent landscape for your technology focus?
Join 18,000+ innovators using PatSnap Eureka to map any technology landscape: search 2B+ patents and papers, surface key assignees, and generate a report like this in minutes.
Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. PatSnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.