Robot Control Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 17.1% of all activity sits with five filers. the top five assignees account for 2,041 of 11,910 records in scope, with the leader alone holding 898 — concentration, not fragmentation, at the top of this field.
- Manipulators dominate the claim map. B25J covers 59.6% of records, more than three times the next class (G05B control systems at 17.5%), so most contested claim space sits inside robot-arm and end-effector mechanics rather than software control layers.
- Filing has already cooled from its 2022 peak. the field peaked at 1,114 records in 2022 and fell 34% from 2021 (1,023) to 2024 (674), the last year complete enough to read as a real trend given an 18-month publication lag.
Filing growth compares 2021 (1,023 records) with 2024 (674) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 11,910 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
The search set combines robot control and planning language with the mechanisms that make control decisions actionable — position estimation, motion trajectory, environment sensing, actuator control, end-effector operation and collision avoidance. That pairing narrows the field to records where a robot’s decision-making is tied to a physical action, rather than general robotics or AI filings that never specify how control reaches the actuator. Across 11,910 records published between 2015 and the 2026 cut-off, the field reads as mature and concentrated: dense prior art in manipulator mechanics, a shrinking but still active filing rate, and a handful of assignees holding a disproportionate share of the record count.
The picture below treats each record as a family-level data point where possible, since raw document counts inflate assignees who file continuations or duplicate across jurisdictions. Readers evaluating where to file should treat high density in a class as evidence that claim space is occupied, not as proof the underlying technology is finished.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 11,910-record set: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rose from 655 in 2017 to a peak of 1,114 in 2022, then declined 34% from 1,023 in 2021 to 674 in 2024 — the last year with a complete publication window. 2025 and 2026 figures (down to 79 in 2026) are still filling in under the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, so they should not be read as a continuing collapse.
IPC subclass composition
B25J (manipulators and robots) covers 59.6% of the 11,910 records, well ahead of G05B control systems (17.5%), A61B surgical and diagnostic applications (13.4%), and G05D non-electric control (10.1%). Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares sum past 100% and should be read against the full record total, not against each other.
Shares are the percentage of the 11,910 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Robot Control & Planning Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about robot control & planning patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a recent representative filing
US12661785B2 — Robot control method and apparatus, robot, and storage medium
The claim covers controlling an end effector to make contact with a target object while still moving toward it, then rotating the end effector against the object to bring it into a pick-up pose, then completing the pick-up — all while the end effector stays in continuous motion from first contact through pick-up.Filed by Tencent Technology (Shenzhen), published 2026-06-23 — illustrates how recent control claims are narrowing to specific motion sequences rather than broad end-effector mechanisms.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6786896B1 | Robotic apparatus | 2,665 |
| 2 | US7155316B2 | Microsurgical robot system | 2,213 |
| 3 | US20190201136A1 | Method of HUB communication | 1,637 |
| 4 | US5078140A | Imaging device – aided robotic stereotaxis system | 1,567 |
| 5 | US20090012534A1 | Robotic apparatus | 1,510 |
| 6 | US20190201118A1 | Display arrangements for robot-assisted surgical platforms | 1,498 |
| 7 | US20190201120A1 | Sensing arrangements for robot-assisted surgical platforms | 1,449 |
| 8 | US20190201137A1 | Method of robotic HUB communication, detection, and control | 1,396 |
| 9 | US20190125361A1 | Method for operating a powered articulating multi-clip applier | 1,282 |
| 10 | US20190206563A1 | Method for adaptive control schemes for surgical network control and interaction | 1,102 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings that have had more years to accumulate citations — read this table as a signal of historical influence, not of which claims matter most today.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three findings that shape where a new application is likely to face prior art, and where it is not.
The top of the field is genuinely concentrated
A leader with 898 records and a fifth-place holder at 249 means the top five assignees combine for 2,041 records, 17.1% of everything in scope. That is real concentration relative to a 100-company ranking with a long tail below tenth place at 207.
Manipulator mechanics still dominate the claim map
B25J alone touches more than half the corpus, dwarfing control-software classes like G05B and G06N. Filers targeting end-effector or arm-mechanism claims are entering the most crowded part of the field; those working in G06N-classed AI-driven planning (5.2% of records) face comparatively less density.
Volume has pulled back from its 2022 peak
After peaking at 1,114 records in 2022, filing volume fell over the following two complete years. Recent-year assignee momentum data shows several established filers already down sharply year-over-year, though the newest years remain under-published.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to robot control & planning patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space, and who is pulling back
The ranked leaders are drawn from a 100-company ranking covering the full 11,910-record set. A small number of pairs also co-file consistently, pointing to internal group structures rather than open collaboration.
One filer holds close to 8% of the whole corpus alone
The leading assignee's 898 records outpace the fifth-ranked filer's 249 by more than three to one, a gap that widens further by tenth place (207). That gradient — steep at the very top, flatter from fifth place down — is typical of a field where one or two incumbents built an early portfolio others are now filing around.
Co-filing is limited and mostly intra-group
The strongest co-assignee pair recorded 23 shared filings, followed by pairs at 12 and 11 — in each case the two names are variants of the same corporate group rather than independent collaborators. This suggests portfolio consolidation and subsidiary structuring, not cross-company joint development.
Several established filers have gone quiet in the latest year
Recent-year momentum shows established names filing zero or near-zero in the latest tracked year, with year-over-year declines from -64% down to -100% among the assignees tracked. Given the publication lag, this likely overstates the slowdown, but it is consistent with the broader 2021–2024 pullback.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Yaskawa Electric Corporation | 4 | -64% |
| Google LLC | 2 | -80% |
| Seiko Epson Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| FANUC Corporation | 0 | -100% |
| X Development LLC | 0 | — |
| Ocado Innovation Limited | 0 | -100% |
| Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Canon Inc. | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether you are scoping freedom-to-operate or looking for filing openings.
Check density before drafting manipulator claims
With 59.6% of records carrying a B25J classification, any new end-effector or arm-mechanism claim should be checked against this class specifically rather than the field as a whole.
Run a claim-density check in Eureka →Watch the assignees pulling back
Several top-ranked filers show sharp year-over-year declines in the latest tracked year; confirm whether that reflects a genuine strategy shift or simply publication lag before reading it as an opening.
Track assignee momentum in Eureka →Test the under-claimed branches
AI-driven re-planning and non-electric actuator control show comparatively lower record density than core manipulator classes — a reasonable starting point for scoping a first claim.
Explore white space in Eureka →Common questions about the robot control patent landscape
The dataset ranks 100 assignees across 11,910 records, and the leader alone holds 898 of them — close to 8% of the entire corpus. The gap to the field is steep: fifth place holds 249 records and tenth place 207, so the top five combined account for 2,041 records, 17.1% of everything in scope. Below the top ten the ranking flattens into a long tail, which is typical of a field with one or two dominant incumbents and many smaller specialised filers.
Filing rose steadily through the late 2010s, peaked at 1,114 records in 2022, and then fell 34% from 1,023 records in 2021 to 674 in 2024 — the most recent year with a publication window complete enough to trust. Figures for 2025 and 2026 look lower still, but that is expected: publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so the newest years are always undercounted. Read the 2022 peak and the 2021–2024 decline as the reliable signal, not the raw numbers for the last one or two years.
Manipulator and robot-arm mechanics, classified under IPC B25J, appear in 59.6% of the 11,910 records, making it by far the densest single class in the field. Control and regulating systems (G05B) follow at 17.5%, with surgical and diagnostic applications (A61B) at 13.4% and non-electric control variables (G05D) at 10.1%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these percentages overlap rather than sum to 100%, but the ordering makes clear that most contested claim space sits in physical manipulator mechanisms rather than pure software control.
Compared to the dense B25J manipulator class, AI-driven planning classified under G06N covers only 5.2% of records, and material-handling integration under B65G covers 4.7%, suggesting comparatively lighter claim density in AI-driven re-planning and conveying-integrated actuator control. These are not empty fields, but they carry noticeably less prior art than core manipulator or control-system claims. A freedom-to-operate review focused on these narrower classes is likely to surface fewer blocking references than one focused on end-effector mechanics.
US12661785B2, filed by Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) and published 2026-06-23, claims a specific control sequence: an end effector makes contact with a target object while still in motion, rotates against the object to bring it into a pick-up pose, and completes the pick-up without the end effector ever stopping. The claim is narrow — it covers that particular continuous-motion contact-then-pick-up sequence, not end-effector control generally. Someone designing a system that pauses between contact and pick-up, or that repositions the object without direct rotational contact, would likely sit outside this specific claim scope.
Research Robot Control & Planning Patent Landscape in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole robot control & planning patent landscape corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.