Soft Robotics Market Size, Share, Opportunities, and Trends Report Segmented By Component, Material Type, Application, and Geography – Forecasts from 2025 to 2030

Soft Robotics Market Size:

The soft robotics market is predicted to witness steady growth during the projected period.

Soft Robotics Market Key Highlights:

• Growing adoption of soft robotic grippers in food and beverage processing for delicate product handling.
• Increased investment in medical soft robots for rehabilitation and minimally invasive procedures.

The soft robotics market is growing rapidly because companies across a variety of sectors are looking for flexible, adaptive, and safer automation solutions. In the market of non-robotics, rigid automation has been available for many years; however, with soft robotics, more and more industries see the need for a flexible and adaptive automation solution that is safer for humans and able to interact with delicate and irregularly shaped objects. This has enabled soft robotics to be ideal across a number of sectors, including healthcare, food and beverage, logistics, and wearables. The overall medical market is the biggest portion of soft robotics, based on rehabilitation and surgical assistance. Food and beverage companies are starting to use soft robotic grippers to handle delicate or abnormal objects. It is a discriminated process, but not all segments of the market leverage soft robotics. However, technological advancements in materials science, as well as added capabilities afforded by the adoption of AI, have significantly accelerated this industry. Companies and research institutes are investing heavily in developing soft robotics solutions for the next generation of robots. As industries focus more on safety, adaptable systems, and better collaboration with humans, the market is expected to grow exponentially in industrial and consumer segments alike, resulting in new automation opportunities in delicate and variable environments.

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Soft Robotics Market Overview & Scope

The soft robotics market is segmented by:

• Component: The market is segmented into soft actuators, soft sensors, control systems, power sources, and others. Soft actuators are the most important component in soft robots that enable flexible, adaptive movement capabilities. Soft actuators can be generally described as other traditional rigid actuators since they employ compliant materials to create movement through biological motions (elastomers or hydrogels). Soft actuators are currently used as actuators in medical robots, as grippers for food handling, and in wearable devices, due to their compliance and safety from injury to people and their adaptable potential. Soft actuators allow robots to operate safely in operation near people and pick up delicate materials without damage, which is great for applications in healthcare and industrial automation advances.
• Material Type: The market is divided into elastomers, silicone, hydrogels, shape memory alloys, and others. Elastomers are the most common material used in soft robotics because of their stretchiness and resilience. These materials can deform while being stressed and return to their original shape, which is one of the important features for making some of the soft robotic structural behaviours resemble organic movement. Typical advantages of elastomer materials are their low cost, durability, and compatibility with other parts. To illustrate even further, some applications of elastomers are within soft grippers and actuators.
• Application: The market serves the medical & healthcare, food & beverage, logistics, wearable robotics, marine, and other industries. Medical & healthcare provided one of the most promising application areas. Soft robots can show greater dexterity, use a lower degree of invasiveness, and reduce the risk of tearing the tissue.
• Region: Geographically, the market is expanding at varying rates depending on the location.

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Top Trends Shaping the Soft Robotics Market

1. Bioinspired Actuation Systems
   Bioinspired actuator systems are one of the fastest-growing types of soft robots, due to their notable mimicking of natural organisms. Most notably, they possess enhanced adaptability and flexibility compared to rigid mechanical previous comparators. As such, bioinspired systems are particularly suitable for delicate loads in medical applications, as well as portable and wearable applications. The designs themselves are based on muscle movement and conforming materials, leading to intuitive and efficient motion of robots.
2. Integration with AI and Machine Learning
   Soft robots have been increasingly developing autonomy by incorporating AI technologies, enabling the robot to make on-the-spot decisions and adapt its behaviour in response to the local environment. This transformative trend has aided applications in surgery, rehabilitation and industrial automation, allowing soft robots to dynamically respond to changes in the user or physical environment as a result of intelligent software.

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Soft Robotics Market Growth Drivers vs. Challenges

Drivers:

• Expanding Medical and Healthcare Applications: There is a growing uptake of soft robotics in medical fields, particularly in rehabilitation, prosthetics, and minimally invasive surgery. Commitments to soft robotics allow safe, smart, and flexible alternatives to traditional tools with the least risk of damage to tissue. For example, a mature person may more easily break their spine than that of a younger person, and the demand for personalised and aged care technologies will only continue to grow, so medtech, hospitals, and soft technologies are eager to invest in soft robotic devices to ensure they receive an accelerating return on the marketplace.
• Rising Demand for Automation in Food and Beverage Sector: There is greater use of robotics in processing and packaging over recent years; however, using rigid robots on delicate products can easily damage fragile items. Soft robots have been known to specifically be able to gently handle and manipulate fragile items, both in the ready-to-eat & prepared meal space as well as other perishable items facing almost viciously short life cycles. Companies working in the food industry are currently navigating through labour shortages and are moving towards automated solutions (I.e. soft robotics) that are also hygiene compliant, thus opening an opportunity to unlock greater productivity through soft robots that can handle delicate food products.

Challenges:

• Limited Load Capacity: Soft robots generally struggle with heavy or high-precision tasks due to their low structural strength. This restricts their use in large-scale or high-force industrial settings.

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Soft Robotics Market Regional Analysis

• North America: North America, especially the US as a frontrunner, is home to the most active soft robotics development, which is driven by high research and development expenditure. Both cooperation and interdependence of institutions relate to organisations such as universities, startups, venture capitalists, large technology companies, and many forms of government investing in the twin soft robotics domain, notably healthcare and defence. Most importantly, like all forms of research and development investments, North America has political and regulatory policies that support what is emerging as a domain of soft robotics. Furthermore, mention simply Boston Dynamics and Soft Robotics Inc. are additional organisations/players building environments for the market assimilation of soft robotics technology. The onset of soft robotics in the medical robotics field combined with a visible trend for soft wearables; and with a global experience of an aging population, chronic disease and ongoing demands on healthcare systems, soft robotics development will continue to grow rapidly, just as the growth of food and agricultural automation using soft robotics technology is creating pathways for soft robotics that supports market growth. This whole ecosystem helps create what is now North America, being the largest soft robotics system.

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Soft Robotics Market Competitive Landscape:

The market is fragmented, with many notable players, including Boston Dynamics, DJI, Skydio, ABB Robotics, Hitachi Energy, ExRobotics, Nextera Robotics, SkySpecs, Probotics America, and GridRaster Inc.

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Soft Robotics Market Scope:

Report Metric	Details
Growth Rate	CAGR during the forecast period
Study Period	2020 to 2030
Historical Data	2020 to 2023
Base Year	2024
Forecast Period	2025 – 2030
Forecast Unit (Value)	USD Billion
Segmentation	Component Material Type Application Geography
Geographical Segmentation	North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific
List of Major Companies in the Soft Robotics Market	Soft Robotics Inc. Boston Dynamics ReWalk Robotics Ekso Bionics Festo AG & Co. KG
Customization Scope	Free report customization with purchase

 

Soft Robotics Market Segmentation:

• By Component
  • Soft Actuators
  • Soft Sensors
  • Control Systems
  • Power Sources
  • Others
• By Material Type
  • Elastomers
  • Silicone
  • Hydrogels
  • Shape Memory Alloys
  • Others
• By Application
  • Medical & Healthcare
  • Food & Beverage
  • Logistics
  • Wearable Robotics
  • Marine
  • Others
• By Geography
  • North America
    • United States
    • Canada
    • Mexico
  • South America
    • Brazil
    • Argentina
    • Others
  • Europe
    • United Kingdom
    • Germany
    • France
    • Italy
    • Others
  • Middle East and Africa
    • Saudi Arabia
    • UAE
    • Others
  • Asia Pacific
    • Japan
    • China
    • India
    • South Korea
    • Taiwan
    • Others

Our Best-Performing Industry Reports:

• Robotics as a Service Market
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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Soft Robotics Inc.

Boston Dynamics

ReWalk Robotics

Ekso Bionics

Festo AG & Co. KG

Rethink Robotics

SRI International

SynTouch Inc.

RightHand Robotics

Pneubotics