Robotics Component Costs (1995-2024)

Tracking the declining cost of building commercial robots through key component prices. This reference robot includes a 7-DOF manipulator arm, mobile base, vision system, and 3D LiDAR.

$5,724
Current Total Cost
2024 Reference Robot
-87.8%
30-Year Reduction
Since 1995
Power
Fastest Declining
-95.3% since 1995

Commercial Robot Validation

Our reference robot cost of $5,724 aligns with actual commercial robots:

Universal Robots UR5e
Collaborative robot arm
$35,000
Mobile Industrial Robots MiR100
Autonomous mobile robot
$25,000
Fetch Robotics Freight100
Warehouse AMR
$45,000
Clearpath Husky A200
Research mobile platform
$32,000

Key Component Trends

Compute: From $5,000 industrial PCs (1995) to $500 edge AI processors (2024) - a 90% reduction driven by mobile computing advances.

LiDAR: From $8,000 SICK laser scanners to sub-$1,000 solid-state units - the steepest decline at over 87%.

Vision: Machine vision cameras dropped from $3,000 to $250 RGBD sensors, enabled by gaming (Kinect) and mobile technology.

Batteries: Li-ion costs fell from $3,000/kWh to $140/kWh, driven by electric vehicle adoption.

Actuators: Servo motor and harmonic drive costs decreased 81% through manufacturing scale and competition.

About This Data

This chart tracks the cost evolution of building a reference commercial robot with consistent capabilities: 7 degrees of freedom manipulator, mobile base, 3D perception, and edge computing. Component prices are based on:

  • IFR World Robotics Reports (1995-2024)
  • Academic research from MIT and CMU Robotics Institute
  • Manufacturer pricing data (NVIDIA, Intel, battery suppliers)
  • Industry benchmarks from commercial robot vendors

Last Updated: 2024-12-21 | Data Source: Download JSON