Depreciation Curves for Consumer and Industrial Robots: UK Secondary Market Analysis 2024–2026

Abstract

This study examines resale price trajectories for seven robot categories across the UK secondary market between January 2024 and September 2026. Drawing on transaction data, listing price observations, and the Robot AutoTrader Resale Index, we identify three distinct depreciation models operating within the UK robot resale market: the consumer electronics model (rapid initial decline, stabilisation at 40–60% of retail value), the capital equipment model (gradual, predictable decline to 55–75% over 36 months), and an emerging humanoid model characterised by front-loaded depreciation followed by demand-floor stabilisation. These patterns have direct implications for buyers, sellers, and businesses evaluating used robot acquisition as a capital strategy.

1. Introduction

The secondary market for robots in the United Kingdom is at an inflection point. What was, until 2022, a thin and specialist market has expanded significantly as the first generation of consumer robots ages into resale territory, as cobots placed by early enterprise adopters reach replacement cycles, and as the first commercial humanoid platforms generate secondary-market supply.

Understanding how robot values behave over time is not merely of academic interest. For a small business evaluating a used collaborative arm, the depreciation trajectory determines whether the asset will retain enough value to serve as collateral, be redeployed, or be sold on when the application changes. For a consumer buying a used robot vacuum, the depreciation curve informs whether paying a premium for a lightly used recent model is rational against buying the prior generation at a sharper discount.

This study addresses a gap in the existing literature. While depreciation research exists for automotive assets, consumer electronics, and commercial aviation, no equivalent analysis covers robotic systems as a distinct asset class. The robot market sits at the intersection of these categories, borrowing characteristics from each, and requires its own framework.

Data in this study are drawn from the Robot AutoTrader Resale Index, which tracks achieved sale prices and listing prices across UK robot categories from January 2024 onwards, supplemented by direct listing observation across the UK secondary market.

2. Methodology

2.1 Category selection

Seven categories were selected for analysis based on secondary-market volume sufficient to generate statistically meaningful price series:

1. Robot vacuums (domestic, LIDAR-equipped)
2. Robot lawn mowers (boundary-wire type)
3. Consumer quadrupeds (Unitree Go2 series)
4. Enterprise quadrupeds (Boston Dynamics Spot)
5. Collaborative robot arms (cobots, Universal Robots UR series)
6. Industrial robot arms (KUKA, Fanuc legacy models)
7. Humanoid platforms (limited, emerging dataset)

2.2 Price index construction

For each category, a hedonic price index was constructed by controlling for observable condition variables: age (months since manufacture), documented service history (binary), battery health (percentage, where applicable), firmware currency, and geographic location (UK mainland only). Prices were normalised against the manufacturer recommended retail price (RRP) prevailing at the time of original sale to produce a Resale Value Index (RVI) score where 100 represents full retail.

2.3 Data limitations

Secondary-market data for UK robot transactions is sparse relative to automotive or electronics markets. The humanoid category in particular is based on a limited observation set and should be treated as directional rather than statistically robust at this stage. All figures in this study represent estimated central values with meaningful uncertainty bands that will narrow as the dataset grows.

3. Results by Category

3.1 Robot Vacuums

Robot vacuums follow the steepest initial depreciation curve of any category studied. Flagship models from Roborock (S8 Pro Ultra) and iRobot (Roomba j7+) lose approximately 35–45% of retail value within 12 months of purchase, regardless of condition. This rate is consistent with premium consumer electronics and reflects the same structural driver: rapid model iteration compresses the perceived value of prior generations.

At 18 months, the decline moderates. Units at this age settle into a resale range of 45–60% of original retail, with battery health as the primary condition differentiator. A Roborock S8 Pro Ultra with 90%+ battery health at 18 months trades at the upper end of this range (approximately £620–£680 against a £1,099 RRP), while equivalent units with degraded batteries trade 20–25% lower.

A notable divergence exists between manufacturers. Roborock units retain value approximately 8–12 percentage points better than comparable iRobot models at all observed time points. This likely reflects two factors: Roborock's stronger brand trajectory in the UK market and the uncertainty created by iRobot's acquisition by Amazon in 2023, which introduced questions about long-term software support that the secondary market has priced into resale values.

See the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra resale page and iRobot Roomba j7+ resale page for current UK pricing benchmarks.

3.2 Robot Lawn Mowers

Robot lawn mowers exhibit slower initial depreciation than robot vacuums and a more durable secondary-market floor. The Husqvarna Automower 315X, the UK's most traded used robot mower, retains approximately 50–55% of retail value at 18 months and 40–48% at 36 months when sold with full dealer service history.

The condition differential in this category is unusually wide. A 315X with stamped dealer service history and documented winter storage trades at a premium of 22–28% over an equivalent-age unit without documentation. This reflects the mechanical nature of the product: a mower that has been properly serviced, with blade sets replaced on schedule and boundary wire maintained, is demonstrably a different product from one that has not.

Battery degradation is the second major value driver. Units that have wintered on the charging dock in unheated environments (a common misuse pattern) show pack capacities of 68–75% against the 85–95% of properly stored equivalents. The market prices this correctly: battery-degraded 315X units trade at £620–£680 against £800–£950 for healthy-battery equivalents.

See the Husqvarna Automower 315X resale page for current UK market data, and the used robot mower buyers guide for inspection methodology.

3.3 Consumer Quadrupeds (Unitree Go2)

The Unitree Go2 entered the UK secondary market in meaningful volume from mid-2024, as early adopters cycled through the novelty phase and research groups rotated units. The depreciation pattern differs by variant.

Go2 Air units (RRP approximately £1,100) depreciate to 63–72% of retail value within 12 months, reflecting a consumer product pattern. Go2 Pro units (RRP approximately £2,100) show stronger retention at 70–80% of retail at 12 months, consistent with the research and developer demand base for the Pro variant. The EDU variant rarely reaches the secondary market; institutional purchasers retain units through research cycles.

The key insight from this dataset is that quadrupeds with developer-community demand show significantly more durable secondary-market values than equivalent consumer robots. The Go2 Pro's active GitHub community, growing ROS2 ecosystem, and rising use in university research labs create sustained demand that cushions depreciation. This is a structural factor that does not exist for robot vacuums or mowers.

More detail on Go2 pricing across variants is available in the Unitree Go2 UK price guide and the used robot dog buyers guide.

3.4 Enterprise Quadrupeds (Boston Dynamics Spot)

Boston Dynamics Spot operates in a different market structure. The robot is sold primarily to enterprise customers under contracts that include software subscriptions, and secondary-market activity is limited by export controls, software licence transfer complications, and the high base price (approximately $74,500 in the US; UK pricing varies by distributor).

Where Spot units do appear on the secondary market, retention rates are high: observed units trade at 65–80% of original purchase price after 24 months of documented enterprise deployment. The strong retention reflects Spot's position as the only enterprise-grade outdoor quadruped with a proven track record, a global service network, and software capabilities that competitors have not matched.

The Spot depreciation curve is the closest of any robot category to the industrial machine tool model: slow, predictable decline, with condition and service history as the dominant value drivers.

3.5 Collaborative Robot Arms (Cobots)

Cobots represent the most mature segment of the UK robot resale market and the one with the strongest data. The Universal Robots UR5e is the UK's most actively traded used industrial robot, with sufficient transaction volume to construct a robust price series.

The UR5e retails at approximately £28,000 new with controller. Used units trade as follows by age and condition:

• 12–24 months, under 5,000 joint-cycle hours, full service history: £19,000–£23,000 (68–82% of retail)
• 24–48 months, 5,000–15,000 hours, full service history: £14,000–£18,000 (50–64% of retail)
• 48–72 months, 15,000–30,000 hours, documented but aged: £10,000–£14,000 (36–50% of retail)
• No service history, any age: discount of 20–30% against equivalent documented unit

The cobot depreciation pattern most closely resembles CNC machine tools: the asset is capital equipment with a documented operating life (UR5e is rated to 35,000 hours), a global service network, and standardised condition assessment methodology. Buyers in this category are primarily businesses, who conduct proper due diligence and pay accordingly for documented condition. The result is a secondary market with meaningful price differentiation by quality, which in turn sustains the market: sellers with documented units receive fair value; buyers acquire capable equipment at material savings against new.

Integration cost is the variable most buyers underestimate. A cobot arm at £14,000 represents 30–50% of total deployment cost; end effectors, mounting, safety assessment, programming and commissioning add £8,000–£40,000 depending on application. See the used cobot and industrial robot buyers guide for a full treatment of total acquisition cost.

3.6 Industrial Robot Arms (KUKA, Fanuc)

Legacy industrial robot arms (6-axis, non-collaborative) exhibit a more compressed depreciation profile than cobots. KUKA KR series and Fanuc M-series arms from the 2015–2020 production period trade at 30–55% of original invoice price, with wide variance depending on controller generation.

The controller dependency is the critical differentiating factor. A KUKA KR210 with a KRC4 controller (current generation) is a useful, programmable asset. The same arm with a KRC2 controller is significantly less valuable: KRC2 support has been discontinued, spare parts are increasingly scarce, and programming tooling for the controller is not maintained by the vendor. The market prices this correctly: KRC4-equipped units command a 35–45% premium over equivalent KRC2 units.

This pattern is a useful cautionary tale for robot buyers more broadly. The robot arm is a durable mechanical asset; the controller and software ecosystem is perishable. Buyers who focus on arm condition at the expense of controller currency are acquiring a depreciating software liability along with the hardware.

3.7 Humanoid Platforms

The humanoid data set is the smallest and most provisional. As of September 2026, meaningful secondary-market volume in humanoid platforms is limited primarily to Unitree G1 units cycling through early-adopter and research channels, with some Agility Digit Gen 1 and Sanctuary AI Phoenix units appearing in North American markets. UK-specific humanoid transaction data remains thin.

From the available observations, first-generation humanoid units depreciate to 40–55% of purchase price within 12 months, a rate more aggressive than any other category studied. Three structural factors drive this:

First, product revision cycles in the humanoid category are currently 12–18 months, meaning a first-generation unit is commercially obsolete before it has completed its first year of secondary-market life. Second, the service and parts ecosystem for humanoid robots is immature; buyers without factory support relationships face meaningful uncertainty about long-term maintainability. Third, the primary buyers of used humanoid units are currently research institutions and developers, a demand pool that is price-sensitive and has the technical capability to evaluate risk — which pushes prices down.

The expectation, based on the trajectory of earlier robot categories, is that humanoid depreciation will normalise toward the cobot model over a 5–10 year horizon, as service networks mature, installed base grows, and institutional understanding of residual value develops. For now, early buyers of humanoid units should model aggressive depreciation into any acquisition business case.

4. Cross-Category Comparison

5. Implications for Buyers and Sellers

For buyers: The data supports a clear acquisition strategy in each category. In cobots, pay a premium for documented service history — the price differential is smaller than the value differential. In robot vacuums, buy 18–24 months old with verified battery health rather than 12 months old at premium pricing; the quality difference is marginal, the price difference is not. In humanoid platforms, model aggressive depreciation and treat early acquisition as an R&D cost rather than a capital investment.

For sellers: Service documentation commands a premium in every category, but the effect is largest in cobots (20–30% premium) and lawn mowers (22–28%). Investing in a service record before listing — even retrospectively commissioning a service — consistently returns more than the cost.

For businesses: The cobot secondary market offers genuine capital efficiency. A UR5e at £14,000–£17,000 used delivers the same 5 kg payload and PolyScope programming environment as a £28,000 new unit, on a platform with a documented service life rating of 35,000 hours. At current UK used prices, the payback calculation for used versus new favours used for applications with 5+ year deployment horizons.

6. Conclusion

The UK robot secondary market is maturing at different rates across categories. The cobot segment has reached a level of price transparency and liquidity that supports confident capital planning. Consumer categories are following the electronics depreciation model with some category-specific modifications. The humanoid segment is in its earliest phase, with data too sparse to support strong conclusions but directionally consistent with a front-loaded depreciation model driven by product revision velocity.

The Robot AutoTrader Resale Index will continue tracking these trajectories as the market develops. Updates to this analysis are planned for Q1 2027, by which point humanoid secondary-market data should be sufficient for more robust modelling.

Data period: January 2024 to September 2026. All prices in GBP unless stated. RVI scores are estimated central values; actual achieved prices vary by condition, geography, and market timing. This working paper has not been peer reviewed.