A service robot is a semi-autonomous or fully autonomous robot that can complete service work that is beneficial to humans, but does not include production equipment. Service robot positioning is service. With the development of technology, machines can do more and more, and some repetitive and tedious jobs can be replaced by robots, this saves human labor and promotes the further development of society. In terms of the function of the service robot, an essential difference between it and the industrial robot is that the working environment of the industrial robot is known, while the working environment that the service robot faces is mostly unknown.

According to the application field, service robots can be divided into two categories: home service robots and professional service robots. Among them, home robots mainly include: homework robots, entertainment and leisure robots, handicap assisted robots, residential security and surveillance robots, etc. Professional service robots mainly include: field robots, professional cleaning robots, medical robots, logistics robots, construction robots, underwater robots, and national defense robots etc. The industrial chain of the service robot industry can be divided into upstream, midstream and downstream. Upstream refers to service robot parts suppliers or material suppliers, among them, the main parts include electronic components, motors, batteries, microprocessors, sensors, etc., electronic equipment and electronic components, etc. The midstream segment includes home service robots, medical robots, and public service robots, etc. The downstream of the service robot industry is mainly to reach the final consumer through channels such as supermarkets, brand stores, and e-commerce links. With the maturity of the technology of the robot industry and the increase in market demand, in recent years, global service robots have experienced an explosion in both technology and demand. With the support policies of robots being gradually introduced, the industry has developed rapidly, and the market for service robots has grown faster than other types of robots.

Development status of the global service robot industry:
1. Service robots are developing from simple mechatronics to intelligence.
2. Service robots are developing from a single job to group communication, distance learning, and network services.
3. Service robots are developing from a single complex system to embedding its core technology and core modules in advanced manufacturing and other related equipment.

Global service robot market was valued at 12.65 Billion US$ in 2018 and is projected to reach 34.38 Billion US$ by 2024, at a CAGR of 18.13% during the forecast period. At present, at least 48 countries in the world are developing robots, of which more than 400 companies in 25 countries have been involved in the field of service robots. The countries with the most advanced technologies are mainly the United States, France, Germany, Japan and South Korea. Only some defense robots, household cleaning robots, and agricultural robots have achieved industrialization in the global service robot market, other service robots are still in the research and development stage.

Key players in global service robot market include: Intuitive Surgical, IRobot, Dyson, Neato Robotics, Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic, Gecko Systems, Northrop Grumman Corporation, ECA Group, Kongsberg Maritim, Fujitsu Frontech Limited, Kawasaki, REWALK, Sony, Honda, Toyota, SoftBank, Hitachi, ALSOK etc.