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New industrial robots installed per year

What you should know about this indicator

  • Industrial robots are machines used in factories to automate tasks like welding, assembly, and packaging.
  • They are defined as automatically controlled, reprogrammable, and multipurpose machines that can move in three or more directions.
  • Reprogrammable means their functions can be changed through software without altering their physical parts.
  • Multipurpose means they can be adapted for different tasks with mechanical changes.
  • Robots are becoming easier to install and more flexible, which means even small production runs can be automated.
  • Companies use robots to improve product quality, increase speed, reduce waste, and cut costs.
New industrial robots installed per year
Industrial robots are defined by the source as automatically controlled, reprogrammable, and multipurpose machines that can move in three or more directions and perform a variety of tasks in industrial settings.
Source
International Federation of Robotics via AI Index Report (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
April 20, 2026
Next expected update
April 2027
Date range
2011–2024
Unit
robots

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

AI Index Report

The AI Index Report tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data related to artificial intelligence (AI). The mission is to provide unbiased, rigorously vetted, broadly sourced data to enable policymakers, researchers, executives, journalists, and the general public to develop a more thorough and nuanced understanding of the complex field of AI.

Retrieved on
April 20, 2026
Retrieved from
https://hai.stanford.edu/assets/files/ai_index_report_2026.pdf
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Sha Sajadieh, Loredana Fattorini, Raymond Perrault, Yolanda Gil, Vanessa Parli, Lapo Santarlasci, Juan Pava, Nestor Maslej, Russ Altman, Erik Brynjolfsson, Carla Brodley, Jack Clark, Virginia Dignum, Vipin Kumar, James Landay, Terah Lyons, James Manyika, Juan Carlos Niebles, Yoav Shoham, Elham Tabassi, Russell Wald, Toby Walsh, Dan Weld. “The AI Index 2026 Annual Report,” AI Index Steering Committee, Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, April 2026.

The AI Index Report tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data related to artificial intelligence (AI). The mission is to provide unbiased, rigorously vetted, broadly sourced data to enable policymakers, researchers, executives, journalists, and the general public to develop a more thorough and nuanced understanding of the complex field of AI.

Retrieved on
April 20, 2026
Retrieved from
https://hai.stanford.edu/assets/files/ai_index_report_2026.pdf
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Sha Sajadieh, Loredana Fattorini, Raymond Perrault, Yolanda Gil, Vanessa Parli, Lapo Santarlasci, Juan Pava, Nestor Maslej, Russ Altman, Erik Brynjolfsson, Carla Brodley, Jack Clark, Virginia Dignum, Vipin Kumar, James Landay, Terah Lyons, James Manyika, Juan Carlos Niebles, Yoav Shoham, Elham Tabassi, Russell Wald, Toby Walsh, Dan Weld. “The AI Index 2026 Annual Report,” AI Index Steering Committee, Institute for Human-Centered AI, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, April 2026.

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: New industrial robots installed per year”, part of the following publication: Charlie Giattino, Edouard Mathieu, Veronika Samborska, and Max Roser (2023) - “Artificial Intelligence”. Data adapted from AI Index Report. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260424-104218/grapher/annual-industrial-robots-installed.html [online resource] (archived on April 24, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

International Federation of Robotics via AI Index Report (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

International Federation of Robotics via AI Index Report (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “New industrial robots installed per year” [dataset]. AI Index Report, “AI Index Report” [original data]. Retrieved April 24, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260424-104218/grapher/annual-industrial-robots-installed.html (archived on April 24, 2026).

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