And the Winner Is… Robotics (Again)

With 2026 now in full swing, it’s time to announce the global podium for robotics — brought to you by the ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index (ROBO). Cue cinematic, suspenseful music. Presenter: “And the winner for the last decade of robotics is… China! Ending 2024 with more than six times the installation of industrial robots as second-place Japan and eight times that of the third-place U.S.”

It won’t surprise you to hear that this year hasn’t seen an Oscar-style global event for robotics. But if it had, it would have gone just like that. China may have won this overly forced and confused metaphor, but the race for the next one is on.

Earlier in the year, we discussed how robotics is poised to benefit from the AI race. This time around, we take a look at another race from which robotics is likely to benefit: geopolitics.

This post originally appeared at ETF Trends.