North American robotic orders peaked in 2022, when the corporate skilled a number of file quarters in a row.
Robotic orders in North America remained basically flat within the first quarter of 2025, based on the Affiliation for Advancing Automation (A3). The group discovered that corporations bought 9,064 models valued at $580.7 million in Q1 of 2025.
In comparison with Q1 2024, this represents a 0.4% enhance in models ordered and a 15% rise so as worth, signaling continued demand and elevated funding in higher-value automation programs.
2024 was a slower yr for the North American robotics {industry}, with a powerful ending. Total, North American corporations ordered 31,311 robots valued at $1.963 billion, representing slight will increase of 0.5% in models and 0.1% in income over 2023.
Whereas the automotive {industry} has traditionally been the most important adopter of robotics, meals and shopper items emerged as 2024’s fastest-growing sector, with robotic orders surging 65%. This pattern, nonetheless, appears to be altering, with automotive gross sales driving progress in the beginning of 2025.
“The primary quarter knowledge highlights a continued resilience in automation funding, significantly within the automotive sector, whilst producers navigate a fancy macroeconomic surroundings,” stated Alex Shikany, government vice chairman at A3. “On the similar time, some sectors are taking a extra cautious method as broader financial uncertainty persists.”
Demand from automotive unique tools producers (OEMs) was the first progress driver, with 3,668 models ordered valued at $263 million—a 42% enhance in models and a 78% enhance in income over Q1 2024.
The income progress displays not solely increased quantity, but additionally a shift within the varieties of purposes being automated this quarter, with a larger share of orders tied to higher-value programs, A3 stated. In distinction, orders from automotive element suppliers declined 29% in models and 12% in worth year-over-year, totaling 1,407 models and $88 million.
Most non-automotive sectors skilled contraction relative to Q1 2024, excluding plastics and rubber, which noticed 12% progress in models ordered and a 33% enhance so as worth. Sectors comparable to meals and shopper items, metals, and semiconductors skilled year-over-year declines.
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A3 shares its first collaborative robotic numbers
A3 has begun reporting collaborative robotic (cobot) statistics as a part of its official quarterly knowledge, making it the primary industry-wide dataset of its form in North America.
“We’re proud to launch this new degree of reporting,” stated Shikany. “Cobots are one of many fastest-growing areas of robotics adoption, and offering clear, dependable knowledge on the place they’re getting used will assist producers, integrators, and suppliers make extra knowledgeable choices.”
In Q1 2025, North American corporations ordered 1,052 collaborative robots valued at $39.2 million. Cobots accounted for 11.6% of all robots ordered and 6.8% of whole income this quarter. A3 discovered that cobot demand was strongest in industries prioritizing flexibility and protected human-machine collaboration:
Life Sciences/Pharma/Biomed: 127 models ($7.1M)
Meals & Client Items: 114 models ($4.5M)
All Different Industries: 419 models ($13.5M)
In every of those segments, collaborative robots made up over 20% of whole demand. Common Robots, a number one cobot supplier, launched its UR15 at this time. The UR15 has a most TCP pace of 5 m/s to scale back cycle occasions, enhance productiveness, and cut back prices throughout purposes and industries.
