The number of industrial robots installed by U.S. manufacturers fell 5% year-over-year in 2023, according to the International Federation of Robotics’ recent World Robotics 2024 report. Even so, the number of installations was the third highest on record and the number of robots in use reached 381,964 last year, representing a new high.
The International Federation of Robotics represents national robotics trades associations as well as robotics manufacturers and academic/technology experts in more than 20 countries.
“The United States accounted for 77% of total installations in North America in 2023,” stated Marina Bill, president of IFR. “Annual installations rank third in the world behind Japan and China.”
Bill noted that “a large number of investment announcements have been made by the automotive industry, which will create a demand for robots over the next few years.”
U.S. automakers are the largest market for industrial market, representing 33% of all U.S. installations last year. Even so, 2023 robot sales to the automotive sector dropped -15% from 2022 to 12,421 units, which IFR noted is near the average level for the past decade.
For U.S. metal processing and machinery manufacturing, 2023 new robot installations rose 8% from the previous year to 4,171 new robot units.
U.S. electrical and electronics manufacturing’s robot new robot installations rose 1% from 2022, to 3,900 units.
IFR noted that near-shoring activity has had a positive effect for new robot installations in Canada and Mexico, mainly due to the automotive manufacturing operations in those countries.
In Canada, robot installations by automotive industry operations grew by 95% from 2022 to 2023, reaching 2,500 new units installed. That represents 58% of new robots installed in Canada for the year.
In Mexico, automotive-sector robot installations rose in 2021 and 2022, and then declined by -5% in 2023 to 4,087 new units installed. The Mexican automotive industry accounts for 70% of all installations in the country.
