North American companies ordered 10,989 robots worth $723.5 million in the third quarter of 2026, according to the latest data from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). That is a 24.8% increase in units and a 26.1% increase in value compared with Q3 2025, and A3 says it makes the third quarter the strongest of the year so far.
For robotics founders and engineers in the Bay Area, the useful part of the report is where the growth came from. Orders rose across several industries at once, which gives startups building hardware and physical AI a wider set of buyers to talk to. Here is what the numbers say, what a few local and national companies are doing with them, and where to meet the people building in this space.
What the A3 numbers show for Q3 2026
Through the first nine months of 2026, A3 counts 28,984 robots valued at about $1.89 billion, up 9.6% in units and 13.3% in value from the same period last year. The third quarter pulled that total up after a slower first half, especially in automotive. Automotive OEM orders returned to growth in Q3 at 7.5%, though A3 notes they remain 17% below their year-earlier level through September.
Other segments moved faster. Orders from automotive component suppliers climbed 90.4%, semiconductors and electronics and photonics rose 97.6% in units, plastics and rubber rose 67.7%, life sciences and pharma rose 38.7%, and metals rose 37.0%. Food and consumer goods fell 23.7%. A3 ties the electronics growth to rising investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and the life sciences growth to domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Cobots keep gaining share
Collaborative robots, which are designed to work near people, posted a strong quarter. A3 reports 1,831 cobots valued at $63.8 million ordered in Q3, an increase of about 56% in units from a year earlier. They made up 16.7% of all robot units ordered in the quarter.
Cobots are most common in the two fastest-growing sectors. In the first nine months of 2026, they accounted for 43.8% of robot orders in life sciences, pharma and biomed and 36.9% in semiconductors, electronics and photonics. That pattern is worth a look for startups selling into labs, cleanrooms and electronics assembly.
A3 also pointed to a broader manufacturing backdrop. The September ISM Manufacturing PMI registered 54.5, the ninth consecutive month of expansion, and the Federal Reserve reported that U.S. manufacturing output rose 0.3% in September. A3 also listed higher input costs, trade uncertainty and the timing of large projects as factors to watch.
Helm.ai and the Redwood City robotics scene
One local company shows how this demand reaches software. Helm.ai said on Oct 8 that it signed $70 million in commercial contracts for its physical AI foundation models over a 12-month period. The Redwood City company's customers span automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers and industrial automation companies, and it also has partners in mining and construction.
CEO Vladislav Voroninski told The Robot Report that the company is now on a path to break even, which he called rare in the space. He also said that robotics today looks like autonomous driving did roughly 10 years ago, and that data efficiency matters even more for robots because nobody has a large fleet of them yet. Helm.ai was founded in 2016 and says its stack covers SAE Level 2 through 4 autonomous vehicle programs.
If you want a map of who else is building nearby, our guide to robotics companies in Silicon Valley is a good companion to this report.
New money for physical AI startups
Funding keeps arriving alongside the orders. On Nov 2, The Robot Report covered Tutor Intelligence's $75 million Series B. The Watertown, Mass. company deploys fleets of connected robots that work with remote human operators it calls tutors, and it charges customers by the hour or by the pick instead of selling the robots outright. It says it is on track to have more than 1,000 robots under contract by the end of 2027, according to The Robot Report's coverage.
Crunchbase's Q3 data also named physical AI startups among the largest seed rounds of the quarter, including Walden Robotics with $300 million. For a longer view of how rounds have trended, see our roundup of robotics startup funding in Q3 2026 and our post on the Bedrock Robotics Series C.
What this means for Peninsula and South Bay builders
The takeaway for local hardware teams is that demand is broadening across industries, with the fastest growth in semiconductors, electronics and life sciences alongside a recovery in automotive. A founder building a gripper, a perception model or a data pipeline has more reasons to look at those buyers for first customers, and A3 says the mix of industries is becoming more diversified.
Getting there still requires access to real hardware and real people. Our guide to hardware prototyping in the South Bay covers where to build, and robotics meetups in the Bay Area shows where to meet other teams. South Bay Renaissance, which Tribe organizes to rebuild the startup and social scene across the South Bay and Peninsula, hosted a Physical AI & Robotics Mixer at Circuit Launch in Mountain View on Oct 9, at a space the event page describes as home to 30+ companies building across robotics, hardware and deep tech.
Meet the robotics crowd
Follow the Tribe Events calendar on Luma to catch the next in-person gathering, and join the Futurists in Robotics Tribe to trade notes with other people building and following physical AI.
