North American companies ordered 10,989 robots valued at $723.5 million in the third quarter of 2026, according to new data released by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3).
Those numbers meant that orders increased 24.8% in units and 26.1% in value compared to the third quarter of 2025, making it the strongest quarter of the year so far. The third-quarter gains also pushed total orders for the first nine months of 2026 to 28,984 robots valued at approximately $1.89 billion, representing increases of 9.6% in units and 13.3% in value over the same period last year.
A3’s analysis of the data revealed that the latest orders reflect growing industry diversification. “What stands out in the third quarter is not simply the magnitude of the growth, but how broadly it was distributed across the market,” said Alex Shikany, Executive Vice President at A3. “Automotive OEM orders returned to positive growth, while Automotive Components and sectors such as semiconductors/electronics and life sciences posted significant gains. That broader mix is important because it points to a robotics market that is becoming increasingly diversified across industries and applications.”
Specifically, automotive OEM robot orders returned to positive year-over-year growth in the third quarter, increasing 7.5% after declining during the first half of 2026. Automotive Component orders climbed 90.4%, continuing the strong demand from suppliers seen earlier in the year.
Several other industries recorded substantial increases in robot orders during Q3:
- Semi & Electronics/Photonics: +97.6% units
- Plastics & Rubber: +67.7% units
- Life Sciences/Pharma/Biomed: +38.7% units
- Metals: +37.0% units
- All Other Industries +0.5% units
- Food & Consumer Goods -23.7% units
