加利福尼亚洲圣何塞的Datagest公司的制造自动化维修部主任D·彭宁在机器人工业协会年(1988年3月在佛罗里达州奧兰多举行)上说,预期世界范围内的机器人销售额从1988年起将以每年11.8％的增长率递增,到1992年时将达到创记录的25亿美元。但是他认为日本机器人工业的增长速度将不会有这样高,因为日本的工业自动化已经达到了成熟时期。到1992 D. Pennings, director of manufacturing automation maintenance at Datagest Corp. of San Jose, Calif., said in the Robotics Industry Association year (held in Orlando, Florida, in March 1988) that worldwide sales of robots are expected to begin in 1988. With an annual growth rate of 11.8%, it will reach a record of US$2.5 billion by 1992. However, he believes that the growth rate of the Japanese robotics industry will not be as high as Japan’s industrial automation has reached a stage of maturity. To 1992