Atlas report
Who works on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics, and where
Among doctoral starts, Reinforcement Learning in Robotics takes 1.9 times the share it took over the previous three years, +23 683 people.
The short answer
25 325 indexed researchers with a known country work on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics; the subject takes 1.9% of all subject assignments in the index.
Among doctoral starts, Reinforcement Learning in Robotics takes 1.9 times the share it took over the previous three years, +23 683 people.
10 204 people started on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics since 2024, 2.5 times the 4 131 of the three years before; across all subjects the ratio is 1.7.
What stands out
Relative to its size, the United Kingdom leans hardest on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics: 2.5% of its subject assignments, 1.3 times the world share.
By country
China and the United States hold 60% of the people working on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics, more than the 53% the same two countries hold across all subjects.
Country reports: China, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, South Korea, France, India.
| Country | Researchers | Share of the subject | Share of the country's researchers |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 8 168 | 32% | 1.9% |
| United States | 7 052 | 28% | 2.4% |
| United Kingdom | 1 335 | 5.3% | 2.5% |
| Germany | 1 115 | 4.4% | 1.8% |
| Canada | 717 | 2.8% | 2.2% |
| South Korea | 562 | 2.2% | 1.5% |
| Hong Kong | 499 | 2.0% | 2.3% |
| France | 497 | 2.0% | 1.5% |
| India | 496 | 2.0% | 1.1% |
| Japan | 479 | 1.9% | 1.8% |
| Singapore | 383 | 1.5% | 2.2% |
| Australia | 352 | 1.4% | 1.6% |
Newcomers by year
The 2025 intake for Reinforcement Learning in Robotics was 1.0 times the average of the three previous years, against 0.8 worldwide.
526 researchers on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics declare a doctorate in progress on their ORCID record, started and without an end date yet.
On 853 dated profiles, the median time from first paper to defence on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics is 4 years.
| First publication | New on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics | Share of the world's newcomers |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 959 | 4.9% |
| 2020 | 997 | 4.8% |
| 2021 | 1 184 | 4.8% |
| 2022 | 1 518 | 4.5% |
| 2023 | 1 429 | 4.7% |
| 2024 | 1 269 | 4.3% |
| 2025 | 1 379 | 5.5% |
Compared with subjects of the same size
Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning and Advanced Image and Video Retrieval Techniques are the subjects closest in size. The growth column is where they part. Reports: Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning.
| Reinforcement Learning in Robotics | Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning | Advanced Image and Video Retrieval Techniques | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers | 25 325 | 25 324 | 25 673 |
| Largest country | China | China | China |
| Newcomers, recent against previous window | 2.5 | 2.7 | 0.9 |
Method
Subjects follow the OpenAlex taxonomy, on the profiles that carry one; a person can carry several, so shares are shares of subject assignments. A country is where the institution sits. Newcomers are dated by first publication, and a doctorate in progress is a junior profile with a first publication and no dated defence. The index is built from arXiv, OpenAlex, ORCID and DBLP and grows every night. See the atlas, how to find and hire AI researchers and how long an AI doctorate takes.
Common questions
- How many researchers work on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics?
- 25 325 researchers in the Founding Hires index carry Reinforcement Learning in Robotics as a subject, across the largest countries, as of October 2026. Worldwide the subject holds 1.9% of all subject assignments.
- Which countries lead on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics?
- China (8 168), United States (7 052), United Kingdom (1 335).
- Is Reinforcement Learning in Robotics growing?
- Yes, faster than the world. Since 2024, 10 204 people in Reinforcement Learning in Robotics published for the first time, against 4 131 over the three years before, a ratio of 2.5 where the world sits at 1.7.
- How many doctorates on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics are in progress?
- 526 researchers on Reinforcement Learning in Robotics declare a doctorate in progress on their ORCID record, started and without an end date yet.
The names behind the numbers
Every count on this page is a list in the index.
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