There was a 44% decline in the consumer goods sector’s robotics-related patent applications in the third quarter of last year, analysis by GlobalData suggests. 

A study by the research and intelligence group showed 370 applications were lodged during the period, versus 655 in the second quarter. 

The total number of robotics-related patents granted dropped by 12% in Q3 2022, the GlobalData whitepaper – Robotics in Consumer – Patenting Activity in Q3 2022 – said.

Analysis of company activity shows LG filed the most robotics patents within the consumer goods sector in the quarter.

LG filed 47 robotics-related patents but that compared with 86 in the previous quarter. It was followed by iRobot with 17 patent filings, Samsung Group (eight) and Beijing Roborock Technology (also eight).

The largest share of robotics-related patent filings was in the US with 29%, followed by China (14%) and South Korea (10%). That represented by the US was 11 percentage points higher than the 18% share it accounted for in Q2 2022.

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research and analysis used to produce this article. 

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries. 

There was a 50% drop in the mentions of environmental sustainability in the filings of consumer goods companies in the third quarter of 2022, compared with the previous quarter, according to analysis by GlobalData. 

However, environmental sustainability was one of the most frequently referenced themes in the quarter, ranking highest in terms of mentions, according to GlobalData’s whitepaper on Social Responsibility in Consumer – Filings Trends in Q3 2022.

Diageo, home to brands including Johnnie Walker and Guinness, accounted for the highest share of the mentions, GlobalData’s study, which analysed more than 660 filings, showed. 

Four major businesses with interests in food – PepsiCo, Japan’s Ajinomoto, meat giant JBS and Unilever’s Indonesian arm – followed the spirits group in the list of the companies that topped the league table of mentions.

GlobalData’s analytics also applies sentiment weight to sentences, based on whether the sentences are positive, negative, or neutral. Starting at 100 in 2020, an index over 100 is more positive. The overall index for environmental sustainability in the third quarter of 2022 was 110.

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research and analysis used to produce this article. 

GlobalData’s Company Filings Analytics uses machine learning to uncover key insights and track sentiment across millions of regulatory filings and other corporate disclosures for thousands of companies across the world’s largest industries.