“Robot Vacuum Cleaners Popular for Liberation from Housework... Korea Leads Global Patent Applications”

Robot vacuum cleaners are gaining popularity as they open a new horizon for liberation from household chores. As evidence of this, the global robot vacuum cleaner market is expected to grow rapidly from $5.65 billion (7.6 trillion KRW) last year to $29.82 billion (40 trillion KRW) by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of 23.4%.

Along with the steep growth of the robot vacuum cleaner market, industry technology development and patent applications are also active. In particular, South Korea has emerged as the world’s number one country in patent applications in the robot vacuum cleaner field, dominating the stage.

Robot vacuum cleaner image. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on the 29th, patents related to robot vacuum cleaners filed in the five major patent offices (IP5) ? South Korea, the United States, China, the European Union, and Japan ? surged from 53 cases in 2011 to 894 cases in 2020. This means that patent applications have increased by an average of 36.9% annually over the past decade.

Above all, the average annual growth rate from 2016 to 2020 recorded 51.7%, indicating that the growth rate of patent applications in the robot vacuum cleaner field has been accelerating year by year.

In terms of the nationality of applicants in the robot vacuum cleaner field over the past 10 years, South Korea accounted for the highest proportion at 35.8%, followed by China (35.7%), the United States (12.8%), Japan (4.5%), and Germany (3.3%).

Patent application trends by applicant nationality for technologies related to robot vacuum cleaners. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

During the same period, China led the average annual growth rate by country at 91.9%, surpassing South Korea’s 39.6%. However, in the recent five years (2016?2020), South Korea’s average annual growth rate was 67.1%, 12 percentage points higher than China’s 55.1%. This suggests that South Korea demonstrated strong momentum amid the rapid growth of the robot vacuum cleaner market.

In terms of the number of patent applications, LG Electronics (26.6%) overwhelmingly ranked first worldwide, followed by iRobot (5.4%, USA), Samsung Electronics (5.2%), Electrolux (3.0%, Sweden), and Amicro (2.3%, China).

Kim Joo-dae, head of the Intelligent Robot Examination Division at KIPO, said, “South Korea has strengths in both precision manufacturing technologies necessary for robot vacuum cleaners and the convergence of information technology for artificial intelligence control. This will also be an advantageous factor for domestic companies to secure a leading position in the robot vacuum cleaner market.”

He added, “The Korean Intellectual Property Office will spare no effort to support our companies through high-quality patent examinations so that they can open a ‘new horizon for liberation from household chores’ with robot vacuum cleaners.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.