North American manufacturers ordered 8,940 industrial robots worth $622 million in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) — a 4.3% year-over-year gain in units and a 21.3% jump in revenue, with non-automotive buyers now accounting for 56% of demand.
Non-Auto Takes The Wheel
First-half 2026 totals reached 17,995 units valued at $1.166 billion, up 2.0% in units and 6.6% in revenue over the same period of 2025. That headline growth masks a hard automotive-OEM slump — orders from car makers fell 25% in H1 — offset by double-digit gains elsewhere. In H1, A3 tallied orders up 35% in semiconductors, electronics and photonics; 32% in life sciences, pharmaceuticals and biomedical; 24% in automotive components; and 17% in food and consumer goods. In Q2 alone, semis/electronics/photonics jumped 38% year over year and food and metals each grew 18%.
Cobots Hold Their Own
Collaborative robots continued to punch above their weight in the market, with 2,774 cobots ordered in H1 for $114 million — 15.4% of units and 9.8% of revenue. Adoption skewed toward healthcare (43.7% of first-half orders in that segment) and electronics (36.5%). In Q2 alone, 1,137 cobots shipped, worth $44 million. Recent partnership and product moves from Molex's humanoid-scale MiniMix connector to Samsung's RX Office humanoid point to the next leg of demand rippling from cobots into general-purpose robots.
Manufacturers Still Betting On Automation
"While the timing of large automotive OEM projects and broader economic conditions will continue to influence quarterly results, the first-half data suggests manufacturers continue to view automation as a long-term investment in competitiveness," A3 said. Executive Vice President Alex Shikany added that "the breadth of growth outside automotive OEM is an important trend we'll continue to watch." The report lands alongside signals that industrial robotics installations globally hit a record 542,000 units in 2024 and $16.7 billion in value, per the International Federation of Robotics — a baseline against which 2026's diversification is now widening. See related coverage of HII's $900M robotics pact with Path and GrayMatter and TechForce Robotics' 5,000-unit LOI with NBR.
Reporting based on The Robot Report and Association for Advancing Automation (A3) data released August 12, 2026.