Robot Smart Manufacturing Patent Snapshot 2026
The robot smart manufacturing patent space is small but accelerating, with 12 patent families in scope and a growth rate of 600% in the recent window. BOYLE WILLIAM M leads by a significant margin, and the United States is the dominant filing jurisdiction.
A nascent field with one dominant individual inventor and a thin institutional tier
BOYLE WILLIAM M holds the top position with 8 patent records, well ahead of Kobe Steel Ltd at 4 and. The English Electric at 3, establishing a pronounced lead-tier gap at the very start of the ranking.
The top five filers account for 45% of the combined patent records of the ranked applicants visible in this query. Given the small corpus size, this concentration reflects the early-stage nature of the field rather than mature incumbency entrenchment.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BOYLE WILLIAM M | 8 | |
| 2 | Kobe Steel Ltd | 4 | |
| 3 | The English Electric Company | 3 | |
| 4 | Nissan Motor Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 5 | California Institute of Technology | 2 | |
| 6 | FANUC Ltd | 2 | |
| 7 | ABB (Switzerland) AG | 2 | |
| 8 | Samsung Electronics Co Ltd | 2 | |
| 9 | GDH Fuyua Digital Automation | 1 | |
| 10 | Board of Governors for Higher Education, State of Rhode Island | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | ShinMaywa Industries Ltd | 1 | |
| 12 | Harbin Institute of Technology | 1 | |
| 13 | Roche Diagnostics GmbH | 1 | |
| 14 | Canon Inc | 1 | |
| 15 | DR R SUTHAN | 1 | |
| 16 | SITHARA MOHAMED MUSTAFA | 1 | |
| 17 | DR RAMESH CHAND PANDEY | 1 | |
| 18 | DR ASHISH KUMAR MISHRA | 1 | |
| 19 | Shenzhen Shenglide Technology Co Ltd | 1 | |
| 20 | ThinkSoft Co Ltd | 1 |
The leader’s focus on seven-degree-of-freedom manipulator arms and robot control — anchored in the most-cited patents on mobile dexterous arms — signals that foundational kinematics and control remain the primary IP battleground.
The most recent 18–24 months of filings are under-represented due to standard patent publication lag; apparent activity in 2025–2026 should be read as a floor, not a ceiling. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filing activity is accelerating and the technology mix is heavily weighted toward robotic manipulators
Two charts capture the field’s trajectory: annual filing volume reveals a sharp recent uptick, while the IPC branch distribution shows where technical attention is concentrated and where it remains sparse.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings were near zero from 2017 through 2022, then jumped to 2 in 2023 and 5 in 2024. The 2025 figure of 3 and the zero count for 2026 are almost certainly understated due to publication lag and should not be read as a plateau or decline. The 600% recent growth rate reflects genuine acceleration from a very low base.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B25J (Manipulators & robots) is visible in with 48 patent records, dwarfing all other branches. G05B (Control & regulating systems) and G05D (Control of non-electric variables) each carry 9 records, while G11B (Information storage) and H04N (Pictorial communication) each hold 8 — suggesting an early integration of vision and data-storage capabilities into robotic platforms. Branches such as G06N (AI models) and G06V (Image/video recognition) are present but sparse.
↗ 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.
Off-line-Lernverfahren für industriellen Roboter
An off-line teaching method wherein transmission of execution data is facilitated to prevent occurrence of a transmission error and to facilitate a teaching operation and reduce the time for such teaching operation to permit construction of a fully automated production line. The method comprises the steps of teaching subdivided execution data for the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mobile dexterous seven degree of freedom robot arm… | 588 |
| 2 | Configuration control of seven degree of freedom a… | 470 |
| 3 | Miniature lightweight digital camera for robotic v… | 94 |
| 4 | Video time code synchronized robot control apparatus | 44 |
| 5 | Control method for an industrial robot | 30 |
| 6 | Device for the movement and positioning of an elem… | 19 |
| 7 | Assembling apparatus and production system | 17 |
| 8 | Off-line teaching method for industrial robot | 12 |
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.
BOYLE WILLIAM M
Holds 8 patent records — the largest position in the corpus — concentrated entirely in B25J manipulator systems (B25J 13 and B25J 9) and G05D control of non-electric variables. The most-cited patents on mobile dexterous seven-degree-of-freedom arms and configuration control stem from this portfolio. No momentum data is available for this filer in the recent-window comparison, indicating an established rather than accelerating position.
patent records: 8Kobe Steel Ltd
Holds 4 patent records with a technology focus spanning B23K welding (B23K 9), B25J manipulators, and G05B control systems — a combination that reflects integration of robotic arms into welding and manufacturing process control. This cross-branch positioning differentiates Kobe Steel from the purely kinematics-focused leader and may indicate a process-automation rather than platform-robotics strategy.
patent records: 4Frequently asked questions
The landscape covers 12 patent families in scope. This is a small corpus reflecting either a narrow search definition or an early-stage field, and the 600% recent growth rate suggests the count will increase as more filings publish.
BOYLE WILLIAM M leads with 8 patent records, concentrated in seven-degree-of-freedom manipulator systems (B25J 13, B25J 9) and non-electric variable control (G05D 3). The next-ranked filer, Kobe Steel Ltd, holds 4 patent records.
The United States leads with 16 patent records, followed by Europe (EPO) at 7, Japan and WIPO (PCT) at 5 each, and the United Kingdom and India at 3 apiece. China holds 1 record in this corpus.
B25J (Manipulators & robots) is visible in with 48 patent records — more than five times the next-largest branches. G05B (Control & regulating systems) and G05D (Control of non-electric variables) each hold 9 records.
The evidence places the field in the Growth stage, with annual filings still rising. The 2025 and 2026 figures are understated due to publication lag and should be treated as floors. The 600% recent growth rate is measured from a very low base.
The only documented co-applicant relationship in the evidence is between ZHU WEIJIN and ABB (Switzerland), with 2 jointly filed records. No broader alliance or consortium structures are visible in the current corpus.
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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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