North American robot orders rose 4.3% in units and 21.3% in value. The gap is the story.

The Association for Advancing Automation reported that North American companies ordered 8,940 robots valued at $622 million in the second quarter of 2026. Against Q2 2025 that is a 4.3% increase in units and a 21.3% increase in order value, with A3 noting that quarterly year-over-year growth rates are based on a consistent reporting cohort.

First-half totals came to 17,995 units valued at $1.166 billion, up 2.0% in units and 6.6% in value on the first half of 2025.

Value is rising roughly five times faster than units

A 4.3% unit increase producing a 21.3% revenue increase means the average order got materially more expensive. That is either mix — buyers shifting toward larger, higher-payload or more heavily integrated cells — or more content per system in vision, controls and software. A3 did not break out which, and the distinction matters for anyone modelling the component supply chain.

Automotive OEMs stopped buying; everyone else did not

Automotive OEM orders fell 25% in the first half against H1 2025, after a flat first quarter. Growth in automotive components and general industry covered the gap. On H1 unit growth, A3 listed semiconductors, electronics and photonics up 35%, life sciences, pharmaceuticals and biomedical up 32%, automotive components up 24%, food and consumer goods up 17%, plastics and rubber up 6%, all other industries up 6%, and metals and metalworking up 3%.

In the second quarter alone, semiconductors, electronics and photonics rose 38%, automotive components 20%, food and consumer goods and metals 18% each, and life sciences, pharmaceuticals and biomedical 9%. Non-automotive customers took 56% of Q2 units.

Cobots sell in volume and not in value

Force- and power-limited arms accounted for 2,774 units worth $114 million in the first half — 15.4% of units but 9.8% of revenue. In Q2 the split was starker: 1,137 units and $44 million, 12.7% of units against 7.1% of revenue. Cobot penetration was highest where the work is delicate rather than heavy, at 43.7% of first-half healthcare orders and 36.5% of electronics.

Why it matters

Two things are worth carrying out of this. The first is that the decoupling of industrial robotics from automotive capex is now a trend rather than a quarter: 56% of units going to non-automotive buyers, with semiconductors and life sciences leading, is a different demand base than the one this industry was built on.

The second is scale. The entire North American robot market ordered $622 million of hardware in a quarter. Individual humanoid companies have raised more than that in a single round this year. The money going into the category and the money coming out of it are still two different orders of magnitude, and A3’s quarterly print is the cleanest available reminder.

Alex Shikany, A3’s executive vice president, framed the half as a mix shift rather than a boom: automotive remains an important driver, but the breadth of growth outside automotive OEM is what the association says it will keep watching. Backdrop was supportive — manufacturing PMI stayed in expansion for a sixth consecutive month in June, and Federal Reserve data put manufacturing output 1.1% above its year-earlier level.