Automation as Strategy: A3’s Jeff Burnstein on the State of Robotics Adoption, AI and Scaling

A check-in with Association for Advancing Automation President Jeff Burnstein ahead of Automate has become something of a tradition for Machine Design.

This year’s conversation comes at a moment when robotics is shifting from incremental adoption to broader structural change.

As AI expands the capabilities of automated systems, deployment is accelerating beyond automotive into logistics, construction, agriculture and other sectors grappling with persistent labor and productivity pressures. At the same time, humanoid robotics is drawing unprecedented attention—raising questions about scalability, economics and what it will take to move from demonstration to real-world industrial use.

Layered onto this are rising geopolitical tensions and renewed efforts to strengthen domestic manufacturing. Ahead of Automate 2026, A3 shares its perspective on the forces reshaping the industry and what they mean for the next phase of automation.

Editor’s note: The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Machine Design: A3’s latest order-volume data offers an early snapshot of North American robotics demand in 2026. After the modest recovery that followed the post-2023 slowdown, what stands out in the latest figures? Where are you seeing the strongest growth opportunities—particularly in warehousing, logistics and construction—and what do those trends tell us about where robotics adoption is headed next?

Jeff Burnstein: As you know, 2025 ended up in North America up about, I think, 6.4%. The first quarter is a little slower than that. Units were up slightly, revenue was down 5% or 6%. The exact numbers will be published soon. I don’t get too bogged down in the quarterly data; I look at the long-term opportunities here in robotics, and I don’t think they’ve ever been brighter.

I think at some point soon, we’re going to see a much faster increase in the adoption of robotics. And the reasons are many, but one of them is we’re seeing a lot of announcements about reshoring manufacturing to the U.S, and we all know that in order to do that, these are going to have to be highly automated facilities.

Industrial Intelligence

MD: Artificial intelligence has become one of the biggest forces shaping robotics. How are advances in AI—particularly agentic AI and other emerging forms of machine intelligence—improving robotic autonomy and predictive maintenance? And what technical or operational barriers still stand in the way of broader adoption in real-world industrial environments

JB: Well, the real world, of course, is different than the world of simulation or, you know, just guessing what’s gonna happen, but we’re making great progress. And if you look at AI today, and you see that companies who are using robots in logistics and manufacturing are figuring out ways to take advantage of AI, and this is the worst it’s ever gonna be.

And so sometimes you have to sit back and think, look—look at where we are now, and how much better is it going to be in five years? How many applications are going to be enabled by AI? We think it's going to be a tremendous number. So we’re pretty bullish on the impact of AI going forward.

MD: Beyond automotive, which sectors are emerging as the strongest drivers of automation adoption? Whether it’s agriculture, life sciences, logistics or even humanoid robotics, where are you seeing the most meaningful investment and deployment activity?

JB: Well, I think just about every industry is looking at how they can take advantage of robots and the intelligence of AI with them, and how you can use simulation to figure out what’s going to happen in the real world. NVIDIA, obviously, is at the forefront of working with robotics companies to help them do sim to reel, reel to SIM, all that. And I think there’s just so many opportunities, like I said, in every industry.

I was at the MODEX show recently, and so many companies are figuring out how to use AI-enabled robots in logistics and warehousing operations. You’re going to see it at Automate, in manufacturing, and you'll see other industries, like retail, for instance, and restaurants. How do we use this intelligence to not only make the processes more efficient but also fill in gaps of areas where you can’t hire people to do some of these jobs that people don’t want to do.

Humanoids in the Mix

MD: Humanoid robotics was impossible to ignore at Hannover Messe this year. Whether it was complete robots or the components that power them, the ecosystem appears to be scaling rapidly. From A3’s perspective, what production milestones, deployment benchmarks or cost-reduction trends will you be watching most closely in 2026 to gauge whether humanoids are moving from promise to commercial reality?

READ MORE: Beyond the Sticker Shock: The Real Reason Companies Hesitate to Adopt Robotics

JB: Though we’re not officially tracking anything, we’re not reporting on anything related to humanoids yet. (A lot of people are.) And the reason is that it’s a little early. I mean, there aren’t very many humanoids in production right now in the United States. There may be pilots...Agility, I know, has some at GXO Logistics, and maybe in some other companies, but it's too early to say where we are with humanoids, and it's even too early to say globally where we are with humanoids.

Look, all this money is going in. We believe that eventually all this money is going to lead to progress in real-world applications. But those applications haven’t 100% been identified yet. And in which…the customer doesn’t care which form factor they use. They want a solution.

So, is it two-legged robots? Is it a humanoid torso on a mobile base? Is it none of that? We really don’t know yet. Fixed-in-place humanoids versus ones that move around? We don’t know what the most effective and reliable and cost-efficient solution is, if any of those. But the money is still pouring in, and we expect things to happen.

Obviously, we have a huge emphasis on humanoids at Automate. We have an Automate Humanoid Robot Forum for the first time [that] will be at Automate, and a Humanoid Robot Pavilion with humanoid companies from all over the world exhibiting there, and that pavilion is sponsored by NVIDIA.

National Strategy for Robotics

MD: In your April 2026 congressional testimony, you made the case for strengthening America’s robotics ecosystem. What policy priorities does A3 believe are most critical to maintaining U.S. competitiveness as global competition intensifies and supply chains become increasingly shaped by geopolitical and trade dynamics?

JB: Well, we have a six-point recommendation of a national strategy that we think the U.S. should adopt, and this is what we've been talking about now for nearly two years…that the countries that have been successful in establishing leadership in robotics have always had a national strategy.

Japan did it back in the ’70s and ’80s. That launched them into the leadership position globally in robotics. China came along, they had a national strategy that they’re still working very hard, and they established leadership. They dwarfed the rest of the world in adoption of robotics.

So, what we need to do is start with a national strategy, which would include having a central government robotics office that could coordinate all these efforts that we think are needed. We need to somehow incentivize more robot adoption in the United States. This is what really drove China’s ability to gain the lead in robotics, is they were adopting robots.

Companies were moving to China to set up manufacturing there. They were learning through the application of robots how to iterate on the next generation of the technology. They became the leaders not only in adoption, but also in production of robots. Even to suit their own domestic base makes them the leaders in robots production. So, that’s essential.

We recommend to the government that they look at their own operations and become a leading adopter, and not just in military areas, but also in areas like logistics. There’s a lot that the government does where robots could play a role, and if the government did it, it would show leadership and it might encourage small and medium-sized companies throughout the U.S. to do that.

And get away from this fear that somehow robots are job killers, when the reality is, robots are helping save and create jobs, and filling gaps of jobs that people don't want to do. But the people issue is critical as well. We don’t have enough skilled workers. We look at just manufacturing, we have a shortage of…nearly 500,000 workers right now, with projections to be that by 2033, there’ll be a shortage of up to 1.9 million manufacturing workers. Who’s going to do that work? How are we going to reshore manufacturing?

The other thing we need to do is look at continually investing in innovative technologies, not only at the research level at universities, but also looking at corporate innovation, seeing how we can stimulate that.

And finally, there’s a real need for standards, particularly in areas like humanoids. We think the U.S. government can help drive some of that standardization. Saying, look, this is what we need, you standards groups need to come together and make this happen more quickly. These technologies are changing very rapidly. It often takes three years or more to develop a consensus standard. We need to make that faster.

Workforce Development Focus

MD: Beyond the technology itself, Automate has always placed a strong emphasis on workforce development. What can attendees expect this year in terms of programs, initiatives and educational opportunities aimed at preparing the next generation of automation and robotics talent?

READ MORE: In Robotics Adoption, Safety Is Just as Important as Capability

JB: Yeah, we’ve got, you know, student competitions, we’ve got people coming from all over the world to participate in these. We open up the show to student groups. We put a heavy emphasis on education and the next generation of our workforce. These kids need to learn about robotics. They’re all excited when they go to these competitions, whether it’s FIRST Robotics or VEX.

We need to get them into the robotics industry, so having them at Automate and participating in competitions and walking the show, this also helps them make connections to the companies that are the leaders in the space, who are, you know, looking for people. Everybody’s looking for people right now. In this space, and so this is a great way to connect them to potential jobs, either today or in the future.

Overarching Themes at Automate 2026

MD: Beyond the headline technologies, what are the key themes and developments that will define Automate 2026? What should editors, industry observers and attendees be paying particular attention to this year?

JB: We talk a lot about humanoids, obviously, and robotics in general, but remember, AI is a big component of Automate. Machine vision and imaging, really critical enabling technologies for robots, but also on their own, doing things unrelated to robots. Motion control—who’s making the motors and the actuators for these technologies—all of that’s at Automate as well.

So, you’re really seeing the whole ecosystem, too. You’re seeing leading system integrators. Now that’s the primary interface with customers. How do I make all this stuff work? I see all these cool technologies, but how do I employ them in my factory? We’ve got a whole bunch of integrators there showing really impressive solutions. And again, this global perspective that Automate offers. It’s not just seeing what’s going on in the U.S, but you’re seeing things going on all over the world when you come to automate.

2026 Engelberger Award Recipients

MD: My final question is about the 2026 Engelberger Awards. What made this year’s recipients deserving of the honor and how do their contributions reflect the qualities and innovations that are shaping the future of robotics?

JB: So, I'll tell you about the process first. People are nominated. for an Engelberger Award. We consider it the Nobel Prize of Robotics. There’s been less than 150 winners of the Engelberger Award since it was first introduced, I believe, in 1977. So, it’s very prestigious.

The nominations come in. Once a person is nominated, they're considered for life. So, you could have been nominated 30 years ago, and ultimately be awarded an Engelberger Award, because we look at people every year, and there's always new nominees coming in.

So, this year’s winners are really great. In leadership, Hiroshi Fujiwara from Japan. He’s been involved in robotics an awfully long time. He worked for the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Japan. They were one of the real drivers of Japan becoming a world leader. I think he's also been with Jetro. He's been running the Japanese Robot Association for many years. This is a global industry; Japan’s one of the leading players. He’s one of the leading people, and he richly deserves that award.

So, we present two awards each year, Leadership every year, and then the other award rotates between application, technology development and research. And so, this year, it’s in application. And the Application Engelberger Award winner is Bob Little, who was one of the founders of ATI, which was ultimately acquired by Novanta.

He’s been in this industry more than four decades. The work they did at ATI and Tool Changers really enabled so many applications for robotics. He's one of the most passionate supporters of our industry that we’ve ever had, and so I'm thrilled that he'll be winning the award this year.

MD: Congratulations to those winners, and congratulations to you and your success so far.