North American companies ordered 10,989 robots worth $723.5 million in the third quarter of 2026, up 24.8% in units and 26.1% in value from a year earlier, the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) reported on Oct. 28.
The nine-month total reached 28,984 robots worth about $1.89 billion, increases of 9.6% in units and 13.3% in value year over year. A3 reported a 90.4% rise in orders from automotive-component makers in Q3, while orders from automotive original-equipment manufacturers increased 7.5%.
Collaborative robot orders rose about 56% to 1,831 units, accounting for 16.7% of all robot units ordered in the quarter, the association said. Through September, cobots made up 43.8% of robot orders in life sciences, pharmaceuticals and biomedicine, and 36.9% in semiconductors, electronics and photonics.