Here comes the robot takeover

A new survey estimates that we'll have 31 million robots performing household chores -- worldwide -- by 2019.

They survey, published in the 2016 World Robotics Report, "Service Robots", by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), also suggests that the sales value of robots cleaning floors, mowing lawns, and cleaning swimming pools will grow to about $13 billion US dollars between 2016 and 2019.

The lion's share of these (96%) will be vacuum and floor cleaning robots, according to the report. Sales will rise from 3.6 million units (2015) to around 30 million units by 2019.

Entertainment robots are also expected to experience a boost. In 2015, the total number of toy robots, remote-controlled multi-media robots and personal edutainment robots amounted to 1.7 million units. The IFR forecasts that this market will grow to 11 million units between 2016 and 2019.

Assistive robots for the handicapped and elderly will also have an important role to play in this movement. There were only 4,700 units in 2015, but sales figures are expected to rise to 37,500 units from 2016 to 2019, along with a corresponding rise in sales value (from $16.8 million in 2015 to $97 million by 2019.