During the past few years, U.S. manufacturers have massively increased their investment in robots. According to the Association for Advancing Automation, for example, North American manufacturers spent $1.249 billion to purchase 23,903 robots in the first half of 2022. The dollar amount is 29 percent more than sales for the first half of 2021.
Similarly, according to ASSEMBLY’s annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey, sales of six-axis robots, SCARAs, grippers and other robotic technology are forecast to increase 20 percent, from $600 million in 2022 to $720 million in 2023. Some 37 percent of U.S. assembly plants will purchase robots next year, which ties the record high set in 2022.