GOLDMAN SACHS: There's going to be a surge in spending on military robots

Military robots are in vogue.

Whether it's Russia's new efforts to build them, or Google's slightly mind-blowing developments, they're cool right now and it looks like they're going to be a big deal for years to come.

In an extended piece of research on artificial intelligence, Goldman's researchers charted projections made by IFR World Robotics on the state of the growing industry.

In short, military robots are still the most in-demand type, and they're expected to stay that way.

Robot sales for defence applications are expected to maintain a solid lead as the most highly-demanded service robots: Average sales from 2014-2017 are expected to be almost twice as high as the next-largest sector (milking robots).

Elderly and handicapped assistance is another major growth area: It remains one of the smaller sectors of demand, but the average annual sales are expected to be several times higher than 2013's. That's true of mobile platform AI too.