The world's factories now operate more than five million industrial robots, a record high, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). The Frankfurt-based body's annual World Robotics report, released last Thursday, shows the operational stock rose 9% to roughly 5.08 million units, with annual installations jumping 11% to surpass 600,000 for the first time.
“Industrial automation is progressing at high speed,” said Jane Heffner, IFR president. “The new mark of five million robots operational in factories worldwide is more than double the number seven years ago. The strongest growth is taking place in Asia, followed by Americas. Europe is moving ahead more slowly.”
Europe's cautious build-up
The numbers confirm Europe's more measured approach. The EU's operational stock passed 700,000 robots for the first time, reaching 712,000 and accounting for 84% of all robots in Europe. Since 2015, the EU's stock has grown more than 80%, from 390,000 units. However, new installations across the bloc fell 11% in 2025 to 60,500 units, even as global installations accelerated. The EU's five-year compound annual growth rate stands at a modest 3%.
Germany remains the largest European market, taking 41% of EU installations, but its numbers dropped 8% to under 25,000 as the automotive sector—still the biggest customer—continues to retreat. Italy, France, and Spain each added between 4,300 and 7,800 robots, with all three seeing double-digit declines.
Meanwhile, China widened its lead, installing 354,000 robots—up 20% and now 59% of global deployments. The US overtook Japan to become the world's second-largest market, installing almost 38,500 units, up 12%.
A reality check for humanoids
Humanoid robots remain a tiny market compared with their industrial counterparts. The IFR, tracking the category for the first time, reported only about 7,000 humanoids sold worldwide last year for industrial and professional use. Many were bought to generate training data for AI models rather than to perform actual work, and car manufacturers piloting them typically run fewer than ten machines.
Bank of America nonetheless forecasts 90,000 humanoid shipments this year and 1.2 million by 2030. But the gap between ambition and reality is showing in financial markets. Boston Dynamics, owned by Hyundai, is unlikely to pursue a stock listing next year, as its Atlas humanoid has yet to be deployed at scale and the company remains unprofitable, a senior Hyundai executive said this month.
In China, regulators have reportedly used informal guidance to hold back humanoid IPOs after shares in robot maker Unitree soared more than fivefold on their Shanghai debut in August, then fell 55% from their peak. Even Elon Musk has been unusually candid about the difficulty of his Optimus programme at Tesla. “This is going to be the hardest product to scale manufacturing that we've ever made at Tesla, because everything on the robot is new,” Musk told investors on Tesla's second-quarter earnings call, adding that “there is no supply chain.”
Where the real value sits
A report by Brussels-headquartered Arthur D. Little, the world's oldest management consultancy, makes the same point. “Humanoid robots will capture attention; specialised physical AI will capture value,” it states, using physical AI as an umbrella term for machines—from robot arms to self-driving cars—that can perceive, decide, and act in the real world.
The consultancy puts that broader market at around $18 billion (€15.8bn) today, of which humanoids account for just $2 billion (€1.75bn) to $3 billion (€2.63bn), and projects it will reach $60 billion (€52.7bn) to $100 billion (€87.9bn) by 2030. Many humanoid demonstrations “are fake, AI-generated, or heavily staged,” the report warns, while real ones often show pre-recorded routines or remote human operation.
The sweet spot, it argues, is structured environments such as factories and warehouses, where wheeled robots and fixed arms will scale first because they are cheaper and easier to tailor to specific jobs. “Why would we limit it to mimic the human form factor...?” asks Dave Grant, CEO of PickNik Robotics, in the report.
Human-level dexterity, reliable autonomy outside controlled settings, and the absence of a “killer app” remain major constraints for humanoids, alongside unresolved liability and insurance questions. Siemens has trialled a robot for logistics tasks at its Erlangen factory, and BMW is deploying a humanoid in car and battery production. But these trials sit alongside the IFR's conclusion that most humanoids remain at the prototype or pilot stage, while conventional industrial robots are still more economical for factory work.
As Europe navigates its own automation path, the contrast between practical machines and headline-grabbing humanoids is stark. For now, the real value lies in the unglamorous robots that quietly assemble our cars and electronics—a lesson that extends beyond the factory floor to artistic experiments with AI and robotics and even care settings in France.
