North American robot orders rose in 2025, reflecting strong investment in automation across a range of industries. According to new data from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), companies across the region ordered 36,766 robots valued at $2.25 billion last year. Compared to 2024, this represents a 6.6% increase in units ordered and a 10.1% increase in revenue.
General industry drives market gains in 2025
Robot demand from non-automotive customers outpaced demand from their automotive industry counterparts in 2025, with general industries capturing the majority share of units ordered throughout the year. Industries such as food and consumer goods, semiconductors and electronics, and life sciences all contributed to this broad-based momentum. While automotive component orders remained below 2024 levels, activity from automotive OEMs showed meaningful improvement. This uptick from major vehicle manufacturers may signal stabilization in core automotive markets heading into 2026.
Chart courtesy of A3.
Strong finish in Q4 as collaborative robots accelerate
In the fourth quarter of 2025, companies ordered 10,325 robots valued at $579 million. These figures represent a 6.6% increase in units and an 8.7% rise in revenue compared to Q4 2024. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth and lifted annual totals to their highest level since 2022.
Collaborative robots continued their upward trajectory, accounting for 28.6% of all robots ordered in Q4 2025 and 14.7% of quarterly revenue. This represents 2,953 units valued at $85 million, the highest quarterly volume recorded since A3 began reporting collaborative robot as a distinct category in Q1 2025.
Across the full year, collaborative robot orders totaled 7,212 units valued at $241 million. This represents 19.6% of total robots ordered in 2025 and 10.7% of total revenue, underscoring the growing importance of collaborative systems as part of modern automation strategies.
Automation momentum will continue into 2026
“The rebound in robot orders over the course of 2025 reflects renewed confidence in automation as a long-term solution to competitive pressures,” said Alex Shikany, EVP at A3. Shikany also pointed to the significance of Q4 trends. “Automotive OEMs came back strong in the second half of the year, which often serves as a leading indicator for growth in supplier and component markets. This points to a positive outlook for 2026.”
We caught up with Shikany to get more details on the market for robots in North America.
What are your general feelings about the robot market?
Alex Shikany: The market for automation is getting bigger. This report was about robot statistics in particular, but it’s really a leading indicator for the entire automation market. We’re looking at the broader market beyond just robotics.
Robot demand from non-automotive customers outpaces demand from the automotive industry. Is that unusual?
Shikany: Historically, going back to when we first started doing statistics on North American robotics in the early ’80s, the automotive industry really led in terms of share—sometimes 60% to 40%, sometimes more. But look what’s happened in recent years, around 2019 through the present. We’ve seen non-automotive or general industry orders outpace demand from automotive related customers in several years, including 2025, 2024, and during COVID in 2021 and 2020.
Were 2021 and 2022 warped because of COVID?
Shikany: There was somewhat artificial inflation of demand in certain areas like life sciences, plus supply chain challenges. Companies would pull ahead orders because they knew they needed the robots, so they essentially pulled ahead a lot of orders. Some of the plateauing we’ve seen in recent years is them working through that pull ahead – it’s a bit of normalization in the growth trajectory.
Automotive component orders remain below 2024 levels, but automotive OEMs improved. Can you explain that?
Shikany: The automotive segment is comprised of two subsegments. Automotive OEMs—your household name car companies like Ford, Chrysler, General Motors—had a good year. They ordered 23% more robots in 2025 than in 2024. But automotive component suppliers, including all the tier suppliers, haven’t been growing over the last three or four years since COVID. One reason was uncertainty around what the OEMs were doing long term with their model lines and manufacturing needs. The tier suppliers felt uneasiness about what the OEMs were planning. We’ve recently gotten more clarity with changes like the phasing out of the EV tax credit, so we anticipate 2026 will see an uptick in component company orders.
Is the fourth quarter typically the strongest quarter?
Shikany: The data doesn’t support that it’s usually the strongest quarter of the year. But what we saw indicates some uncertainty in the market easing. We’re further away from the economic policy uncertainty of mid-year, we have more certainty, and there are more positive signs in the manufacturing sector. We believe it’s a sign of a turn and movement based on what transpired last year.
Are robots becoming more of a solution because robot capabilities are improving?
Shikany: Yes. It’s twofold. Customers can’t find and retain human workers because there’s not a pool to work from anymore. And robots are being used in conjunction with many other technologies today—sensing technologies, vision technology for perception, artificial intelligence software solutions that make training robots much easier. Looking further out, you’re seeing solutions like programming robots with your voice, telling a system what you want it to do, and converting it into Python code. Ease of use, ease of deployment, and more functionality within automation cells are happening alongside macro trends like labor shortage.
Does the robot report include mobile robots, or is that viewed as separate?
Shikany: It’s definitely part of our robot world in terms of membership and trends. But in terms of this report and statistics, these are just industrial robot arms. It does not include mobile robot units or humanoid robots. What’s included are traditional articulated, SCARA, or Cartesian industrial robots as defined by ISO and IFR, plus collaborative robots.
How does growth in North America compare to growth in China?
Shikany: Based on IFR statistics, the deployment numbers of robots in China versus North America is about 10X—they’re deploying about 10 times more robots than the United States and North America. This is driven by their focused intent on being a leader in automation and advanced manufacturing technology. They have a unique structure where they can dictate based on government priorities where investment goes. There are a tremendous number of domestic Chinese robot manufacturers that have sprouted up in the past 4-6 years, and they’re supplying their own country at an increasing rate.
Are Chinese companies looking to sell into the US, Canada, and Mexico?
Shikany: They’re building their capabilities and trying to win projects in Mexico, the United States, and other countries worldwide. That’s part of why you see a lot of participation from Chinese manufacturers at domestic trade shows. In humanoid robots, there are 14 major companies in the United States, but 50 in China alone, compared to only 13 or so in Europe. They are charging ahead and sprinting to become the leader in these technologies.
What about the quality of Chinese robots?
Shikany: The technology we see today is the worst it’s ever going to be for the rest of our lives. With the pace of change in AI and how that’s impacting training and perception, it’s only up from here. However, there’s also a layer of geopolitical and security-related questions—whether the United States will have wide open deployment of Chinese robots in facilities, or if there will be regulations due to IP, security, and data privacy concerns. Those are largely unknown at this point.
Originally written by: Rob Spiegel
Source: DesignNews
Published on: 18 February 2026
Link to original article: North American Robot Orders Surge 6.6% in 2025
