Robot Production Automation Patent Snapshot 2026
The robot production automation corpus of 31 patent families is moderately concentrated, with Qixing Intelligent Tech leading and the United States as the primary filing office. Annual volume peaked in 2021 and has since eased, placing the field in a declining phase on a recent-window basis.
Qixing Intelligent Tech leads a fragmented field with no dominant bloc
Qixing Intelligent Tech Co Ltd holds the top position with 8 patent records, followed closely by Bragi and Technology Resource International Corp, each with 6 patent records. The top five filers together account for 36% of the combined total among the ranked applicants visible in this query, indicating moderate-to-fragmented concentration.
The gap between the leader and the second tier is narrow — a single patent record separates first from second place — suggesting no single applicant has established a commanding position. Academic institutions such as South. China University of Technology, Guangdong University of Technology, Dalian University of Technology, and Harbin Institute of Technology appear in the ranking alongside established industrial players, reflecting a field where research activity is still distributed.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qixing Intelligent Tech Co Ltd | 8 | |
| 2 | Bragi | 6 | |
| 3 | Technology Resource International Corp | 6 | |
| 4 | NSK Ltd | 4 | |
| 5 | Hitachi Ltd | 3 | |
| 6 | Regie Nationale des Usines Renault | 3 | |
| 7 | Semitool Inc | 3 | |
| 8 | South China University of Technology | 2 | |
| 9 | Panasonic Holdings Corp | 2 | |
| 10 | Utechzone Co Ltd | 2 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Aria Sensing Srl | 2 | |
| 12 | College of Engineering | 2 | |
| 13 | Guangdong University of Technology | 2 | |
| 14 | Applied Materials Inc | 2 | |
| 15 | Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology | 2 | |
| 16 | Dalian University of Technology | 2 | |
| 17 | Wayne J Schmidt | 1 | |
| 18 | Renault SA | 1 | |
| 19 | Harbin Institute of Technology | 1 | |
| 20 | Sinfonia Technology Co Ltd | 1 |
The leaders’ positions imply that a focused filing program of even modest scale could displace or match current incumbents in specific sub-areas, particularly in technology branches where existing coverage is sparse.
The most recent 18–24 months of data are subject to publication lag and likely undercount activity; apparent low filing volumes for 2024 and 2025 should not be read as confirmed structural decline. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2021 peak, a broad manipulator core, and several thin adjacent branches
The annual filing trend reveals a field that surged to a peak in 2021 and has since eased, while the technology composition shows a visible manipulator-and-robot core alongside multiple sparse adjacent classes.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings rose from 5 records in 2017 to a peak of 9 in 2021, then fell to 4 in 2022 and 2 each in 2023 and 2024. The 2025 figure of 1 and the zero for 2026 reflect publication lag and should not be interpreted as confirmed further decline. The field’s recent-window growth is negative at -50%, consistent with a post-peak easing.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B25J (Manipulators and robots) is visible in the technology mix by a wide margin, with G05B (Control and regulating systems) and B23P (Metal working, general) as the next most represented classes. Several branches — including F16P (Machine safety devices), H01L (Semiconductor devices), B29C (Shaping of plastics), and G06N (Computing based on AI models) — each hold only a handful of records, pointing to under-served adjacent areas.
↗ 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.
Swivelling handle with three axes of rotation for …
A swivelling handle includes three reduction gear assemblies, each assuring the control of movement about the three axes of rotation. Each reduction gear assembly has a first reduction stage and a second reduction stage with coaxial drive. This arrangement makes possible great compactness. The third motor can be placed transversally, essentially in the axis… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
Open this patent in Eureka →| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robots for microelectronic workpiece handling | 195 |
| 2 | Robotic safety using wearables | 123 |
| 3 | Industrial robot | 86 |
| 4 | Production-line automatic machine | 84 |
| 5 | Robots for microelectronic workpiece handling | 69 |
| 6 | 一种关节型机械臂逆运动学解析解的求取方法 | 65 |
| 7 | Robots for microelectronic workpiece handling | 62 |
| 8 | 工业机器人自我装配系统及方法 | 46 |
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.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Qixing Intelligent Tech Co Ltd
Qixing leads the ranking with 8 patent records, all concentrated in B25J manipulator and robot sub-classes (particularly B25J9 and B25J17) and supplemented by G06T image processing work, indicating a focus on robot arm kinematics and machine-vision integration. Applicant momentum data is not available in the evidence, so trajectory cannot be confirmed beyond the current rank position.
patent records: 8Technology Resource International Corp
Technology Resource International Corp holds 6 patent records with a materially different technology emphasis: B23P metalworking assembly (both B23P19 and B23P21) and B29D specific plastic articles, indicating a focus on automated assembly and materials-forming rather than pure robot arm mechanics. This positions the company in the sparse metalworking and plastics branches where overall coverage is thin, a potentially defensible niche. Applicant momentum data is not available in the evidence.
patent records: 6Frequently asked questions
The corpus comprises 31 patent families in scope. The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction with 20 patent records, and the analysis spans filings from 2017 through 2026, with the most recent period subject to publication lag.
Qixing Intelligent Tech Co Ltd leads with 8 patent records. The next two applicants — Bragi and Technology Resource International Corp — each hold 6 patent records, so the lead margin is narrow at two records. No applicant has established a visible blocking position.
The field is in a decline stage based on the evidence: annual filings peaked at 9 records in 2021 and have eased since, with a recent-window growth figure of -50%. The most recent data points (2024–2025) are subject to publication lag and may undercount current activity.
B25J (Manipulators and robots) is by far the visible branch. G05B (Control and regulating systems) and B23P (Metal working, general) are the next most represented. Sparse branches include F16P (Machine safety devices), H01L (Semiconductor devices), B29C (Shaping of plastics), and G06N (Computing based on AI models), each with only a few records.
The United States leads with 20 patent records, followed by China with 17, Japan with 11, and Europe via the EPO with 10. WIPO PCT filings number 4. India, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia each have smaller presences, indicating a genuinely multi-regional filing landscape.
Collaboration is minimal. The only co-filing relationship in the evidence is between Regie Nationale des Usines Renault and Renault SA — an intra-corporate pairing. No cross-industry or university-industry co-applicant relationships appear in the current evidence, which is atypical relative to more mature automation fields.
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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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