Orders from North American companies for robots rose by 2% year-over-year for the first half of 2026, as demand for automation increased across nearly every major manufacturing sector.
According to data from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), semiconductors and electronics led the way with a 35% year-over-year bump followed by, pharmaceuticals (up 32%), automotive components (24%), food and consumer goods (17%) and plastics and rubber (6%).
"The first half of 2026 continued a trend that has been building over the past several quarters: robotics demand is becoming increasingly diversified across industries," A3 said.
Overall, North American companies ordered $1.2 billion worth of robots in the first half of 2026, representing a 6.6% increase year-over-year. That growth also came despite a 25% drop in unit orders from automotive vehicle producers, as gains in automotive components and other industries helped make up the difference.
So-called collaborative robots — which are designed to work alongside humans in shared workspaces — made up a significant portion of automation investments as well. More than 15% of all orders in the first half of the year were for "cobots," while the machines made up nearly 13% of all orders in Q2. That share was even higher for pharmaceutical and semiconductor/electronics sectors, with cobots making up 44% and 37% of first-half orders respectively.
As the International Federation of Robotics noted in a 2024 research paper, cobots offer a fast entry into automation for small and medium-sized manufacturers, given that they're often easier to set up than traditional industrial machinery, take up less space, and can be easily moved between different jobs on a factory floor.
