For the third quarter in a row, robot sales in North America have reached a record high, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (AAA).
AAA suggests this growth is driven by a resurgence in sales to automotive companies and an ongoing need to manage increasing e-commerce demand.
According to the published figures, of the 12,305 robots sold in Q2 (April to June) 2022, 59% of the orders came from the automotive industry. Remaining orders from non-automotive companies largely came from organisations in the food and consumer goods sectors, which saw a 13% increase in unit orders over the same period.
“While automotive entities have long been the frontrunner in deploying robotics and automation, the last few years have seen food and consumer goods, life sciences and other industries grow at even higher rates,” said Jeff Burnstein, president at AAA.
“While this quarter shows a marked shift back to historic norms with more robots going to automotive than to any other industry, the continued growth of robotics in food and consumer goods companies especially demonstrates the ongoing need to automate warehouse logistics for handling the exploding growth of e-commerce.”
The 12,305 units sold in Q2 2022 represents a 25% increase compared to Q2 2021 and a 6% growth compared to Q1 2022, which saw 11,595 robots sold, according to AAA’s data.
The Q2 2022 value of US$585m (£509m) is reportedly the second best quarter ever for revenue, despite being down 9% from Q1 2022, which saw US$646m (£563m) in revenue.
AAA says that, when combined with 2022’s first quarter results, the previous record, the North American robotics market is off to its best start ever, with 23,903 robots ordered at a value of US$1.249bn (£1.088bn).
Overall, the market increased 26% and 29% for units ordered and revenue, respectively, over the course of 2021.
A record Q4 in 2021 resulted in the strongest year ever for North American robot sales, with 39,708 units sold at a value of US$2bn (£1.742bn), with 2022 appearing to be on pace for another record year.
