Mobile Robots & AMR Patent Landscape 2026
iRobot Corp dominates a moderately concentrated field with 587 patent families — more than three times the next-ranked filer — while the top five filers account for 34% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. The field peaked in 2019 and annual volume has eased since, signaling a maturing competitive environment where differentiation is shifting toward navigation, manipulation, and AI-driven autonomy.
iRobot leads a field with a clear tier gap between the dominant incumbent and all challengers
iRobot Corp holds the top position with 587 patent families, a commanding lead over Honda Motor (181), LG Electronics (143), Samsung Electronics (131), and Starship Technologies (86). The ranking reflects both consumer-robotics incumbency and the early entry of established automotive and electronics conglomerates.
The top five filers collectively represent 34% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating moderate concentration. A meaningful tier gap separates iRobot from the rest of the top five, and a second gap separates the top five from mid-tier players such as Boston Dynamics (79 patent families) and Sony Group (67 patent families).
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iRobot Corporation | 587 | |
| 2 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 181 | |
| 3 | LG Electronics Inc | 143 | |
| 4 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 131 | |
| 5 | Starship Technologies OU | 86 | |
| 6 | Boston Dynamics Inc | 79 | |
| 7 | Sony Group Corporation | 67 | |
| 8 | Dyson Technology Ltd | 64 | |
| 9 | Robart GmbH | 57 | |
| 10 | Omron Corporation | 50 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. | 49 | |
| 12 | Amicro Semiconductor Co., Ltd. | 48 | |
| 13 | Seegrid Corporation | 46 | |
| 14 | Walmart Apollo LLC | 44 | |
| 15 | PAPST LICENSING GMBH & CO KG | 43 | |
| 16 | Mobile Industrial Robots A/S | 41 | |
| 17 | Jervis B. Webb Company | 40 | |
| 18 | Cobalt AI LLC | 40 | |
| 19 | Ankobot (Shanghai) Smart Technology Co., Ltd. | 39 | |
| 20 | Staples Inc | 37 |
iRobot’s position — built primarily on autonomous floor-care and navigation — creates durable prior-art coverage in core control loops, but leaves adjacent spaces in legged locomotion, logistics-focused AMRs, and AI-model-driven navigation comparatively open for challengers willing to invest in differentiated sub-domains.
Filing data for the most recent 18–24 months is subject to publication lag and likely understates current activity; treat 2024–2026 counts as provisional. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2019 and has eased; control systems dominate the technology mix
The annual filing trend reveals a field that expanded rapidly from 2017 to 2019 and has since contracted on a multi-year basis, while the IPC composition shows that navigation and control remain the dominant technical focus, with manipulator, sensor, and commercial-process branches playing secondary but substantive roles.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings climbed from 456 in 2017 to a peak of 705 in 2019, then plateaued near 700 through 2021 before declining to 598 in 2023. Figures for 2024 (422) and 2025–2026 are materially understated due to publication lag and should not be read as continued decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
G05D (Control of non-electric variables) is overwhelmingly the largest IPC branch, reflecting that autonomous navigation and motion control are the technical core of this field. B25J (Manipulators and robots) and G01C (Distance, navigation, and gyroscopes) form the next tier, followed by B62D (legged locomotion), G01S (radar and positioning), and A47L (cleaning appliances) — confirming that the field spans consumer, logistics, and industrial sub-segments.
↗ 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.
Autonomous Mobile Robot And Method For Controlling…
An autonomous mobile robot, comprising: a drive unit which is designed to receive control signals and to move the robot in accordance with the control signals, a navigation sensor for capturing navigation features, and a navigation unit coupled to the navigation sensor. The navigation unit is designed to receive information from the navigation sensor and to… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Method and system for remote control of mobile robot | 943 |
| 2 | Mobile Robot Providing Environmental Mapping for H… | 764 |
| 3 | Method and system for multi-mode coverage for an a… | 646 |
| 4 | Method and system for remote control of mobile robot | 602 |
| 5 | Method and system for robot localization and confi… | 601 |
| 6 | Navigation system for automatic guided vehicle | 601 |
| 7 | Method and system for remote control of mobile robot | 585 |
| 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 patent structure means for R&D prioritization
A declining annual volume, a dominant incumbent, active university–industry co-filing, and. China’s lead filing position each carry distinct strategic implications for teams deciding where to focus new investment.
Field is in a post-peak phase: core navigation is crowded, sub-domains vary
The lifecycle evidence classifies this field as Decline, with annual filings easing back from the 2019 peak. Core autonomous-navigation IP (G05D) is densely occupied. R&D teams entering today face high blocking-patent risk in basic SLAM and path-planning and should prioritize differentiated sub-domains — legged locomotion, AI-model integration, or vertical-specific applications — where filing density is lower.
Post-peak / selective entryOne dominant filer, a competitive middle tier, and active new entrants
iRobot’s 587-family portfolio creates broad prior-art coverage in consumer floor-care autonomy, but the mid-tier — Honda, LG, Samsung, Starship, Boston Dynamics — is competitive and growing in distinct directions (legged locomotion, logistics AMR, delivery robots). Samsung Electronics and Boston Dynamics both appear as new entrants in recent-period momentum data, suggesting the competitive map is still being redrawn below the top rank.
Moderate concentrationHonda–Stanford and Samsung–Harbin lead cross-sector co-filing partnerships
The most active co-filing pair is Honda Motor Co. and the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University, with 11 joint filings, pointing to deep university-industry collaboration on advanced locomotion and AI. Samsung Electronics co-files with Harbin Institute of Technology (7 joint filings) and with Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (5 joint filings). iRobot has co-filed with Evolution Robotics (3 filings). These partnerships signal that frontier capability — particularly in legged motion and perception — is being built through academic alliances rather than purely internal R&D.
University-industry alliancesChina is the dominant filing jurisdiction; the US and Europe are key secondary markets
China accounts for the largest share of patent records in this corpus, followed by the United States and Europe (EPO). WIPO (PCT) filings indicate significant intent to pursue broad international coverage. Japan, India, and South Korea form a meaningful secondary tier. The strength of Chinese filings reflects both domestic manufacturers such as Amicro Semiconductor and Ankobot filing locally, and global players validating patents in the world’s largest manufacturing and consumer-robotics market.
China-led, globally distributedGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University | 11 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Harbin Institute of Technology | 7 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) | 5 |
| iRobot Corporation | Evolution Robotics Inc | 3 |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | Tokyo Institute of Technology | 2 |
| LG Electronics Inc | 国立金乌工科大学校产学协力团 | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
iRobot anchors navigation-control IP; Honda leads in legged locomotion; Boston Dynamics is an accelerating challenger
The two most instructive contrasts in this landscape are iRobot’s broad control-system dominance versus Honda’s deep legged-locomotion focus, and Boston Dynamics’ sudden emergence as a high-momentum new entrant despite a modest absolute portfolio.
iRobot Corp
iRobot holds 587 patent families — the largest portfolio in this landscape by a wide margin. Its technical emphasis is concentrated in G05D 1 (autonomous vehicle control), with secondary coverage in B25J 5 and B25J 13 (manipulator and robot mechanisms). Recent-period momentum shows a sharp contraction (down 74% versus the prior three-year window), consistent with a post-acquisition period and the field’s broader post-peak dynamics. The portfolio remains the richest source of blocking IP in consumer-facing autonomous navigation.
patent families: 587Boston Dynamics Inc
Boston Dynamics holds 79 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in recent-period filing momentum, meaning its recent filings represent a step-change relative to its prior activity. Its technical focus spans B25J 5 and B25J 9 (manipulator and robot structures) and G05D 1 (autonomous control) in roughly equal measure — a balanced portfolio covering both hardware design and software control. This profile distinguishes it from purely software-focused mobile-robot filers and positions it as the leading challenger in high-capability, legged and dynamic robot platforms.
patent families: 79| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| iRobot Corporation | 24 | ▼ -74% |
| LG Electronics Inc | 24 | ▼ -75% |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 8 | ▲ new entrant |
| Robart GmbH | 4 | ▼ -75% |
| Starship Technologies OU | 8 | ▼ -84% |
| Boston Dynamics Inc | 60 | ▲ new entrant |
| Sony Group Corporation | 2 | ▼ -85% |
| Dyson Technology Ltd | 5 | ▼ -76% |
Under-served branches in navigation sensing, legged locomotion, and cleaning appliances
Relative to the dominant G05D control branch, several adjacent IPC classes show lower filing density despite clear technical relevance to next-generation mobile robots; these are observations of relative sparsity, and entry value depends on a team’s existing capability base.
G01S · Radar, sonar & positioning
G01S covers radar, lidar, sonar, and radio-based positioning — foundational sensing modalities for outdoor and unstructured-environment AMRs. With 424 patent records against the 6,388 in G05D, this branch is comparatively sparse. Teams with sensor-fusion or lidar-processing capabilities may find fewer blocking patents here than in core navigation control. A plausible entry path is through novel multi-modal localization methods that combine radar and vision for GPS-denied or outdoor delivery-robot use cases.
Search this in Eureka →G06N · Computing based on AI models
G06N covers machine-learning and AI-model-based computing, with 179 patent records in this corpus — a relatively low count given the rapid adoption of deep reinforcement learning and large-model-based planning in robotics. This sparsity may reflect that AI-model patents are filed under broader AI classes outside this corpus’s primary scope, or that the field has not yet consolidated AI-specific robot-control IP. Teams investing in learned navigation policies, sim-to-real transfer, or foundation-model-based robot reasoning may find this an early-mover space with limited prior-art density.
Search this in Eureka →How leading filers differ by technology route
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | G05D 1 · Control of non-electric variables | B25J 5 · Manipulators & robots | B25J 9 · Manipulators & robots | G01C 21 · Distance, navigation & gyroscopes | B25J 13 · Manipulators & robots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iRobot Corporation | Strong · 558 | Moderate · 166 | Moderate · 136 | Emerging · 18 | Moderate · 149 |
| LG Electronics Inc | Strong · 132 | Moderate · 43 | Strong · 69 | Emerging · 10 | Moderate · 30 |
| Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | Moderate · 46 | Strong · 108 | Emerging · 18 | Absent | Strong · 56 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Strong · 123 | Moderate · 32 | Emerging · 24 | Emerging · 10 | Emerging · 21 |
| Robart GmbH | Strong · 97 | Absent | Emerging · 19 | Absent | Absent |
| Boston Dynamics Inc | Absent | Strong · 46 | Strong · 40 | Absent | Moderate · 19 |
| Starship Technologies OU | Strong · 81 | Absent | Absent | Moderate · 17 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 5,330 patent families. This total reflects the global landscape across all major filing jurisdictions included in the analysis.
iRobot Corp leads with 587 patent families, more than three times the next-ranked filer, Honda Motor Co. Ltd, which holds 181 patent families. The top five filers — iRobot, Honda, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, and Starship Technologies — together account for 34% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total.
No. Annual filings peaked at 705 in 2019 and have eased since, reaching 598 in 2023. The lifecycle evidence classifies the field as Decline, with annual volume contracting from the peak. Recent-year counts (2024–2026) are understated due to publication lag and should not be read as the final level of activity.
China is the leading filing jurisdiction in this corpus, followed by the United States and Europe (EPO). WIPO (PCT) filings are also significant, indicating wide international filing intent among the leading applicants.
The most-cited works in the corpus focus on remote control of mobile robots (cited 943 times, 602 times, and 585 times across related filings), environmental mapping for autonomous robots (764 citations), multi-mode coverage for autonomous robots (646 citations), robot localization and configuration (601 citations), navigation systems for automatic guided vehicles (601 citations), and recharge docking systems (583 citations). These citation clusters confirm that navigation, mapping, and remote-control architectures are the foundational IP layers in this field.
Relative to the dominant G05D control branch, G01S (radar, sonar, and positioning) with 424 patent records and G06N (AI-model-based computing) with 179 patent records show lower filing density. B62D (legged and vehicle locomotion), A47L (cleaning appliances), and G05B (control and regulating systems) are also identified as adjacent branches with lower relative share. These are observations of sparsity; technical and competitive due diligence is needed before treating any of them as confirmed investment opportunities.
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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.
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