IFR: AI, tactile systems and digital twins will speed up robotics in 2026

Robotics is no longer a topic only for big factories and trade-show demos. The market enters 2026 with record sales, growing demand for service robots and a clear shift toward smarter, more versatile machines.

The market has already grown

By global standards, the market no longer looks experimental. It looks mainstream. The annual value of industrial robot installations reached $16.7 billion, and in 2024 companies around the world put 542,076 new machines into operation. The total operating stock of industrial robots rose to 4,663,698 units. At the same time, sales of professional service robots approached the 200,000 mark. The fastest-growing segments were those where automation immediately delivers savings and predictability: logistics, cleaning and healthcare.

Russia is moving in the same direction, though from a different base. By the end of 2024, the country's industrial robot fleet reached 20,864 units, and robot density in manufacturing rose from 19 to 29 robots per 10,000 employees. For the local market, these are no longer isolated pilots but a noticeable acceleration. The goal for 2030 is to enter the top 25 countries by robot density. Meanwhile, domestic production of industrial robotics grew 4.5-fold to 7.6 billion rubles.

What is changing robots

The main shift now concerns not the number of manipulators on a line but their capabilities. Robots are becoming less rigidly programmed and adapt better to changing environments. Artificial intelligence is starting to handle not only data analysis or computer vision but also physical action: how to approach an object, how to grasp it, how to rebuild a route or a sequence of operations. This moves the market toward more versatile systems that can be reconfigured faster for new tasks.

• AI increasingly controls the robot's real actions, not just object recognition.
• Versatile platforms reduce dependence on a single operation and simplify reconfiguration.
• Tactile sensors and soft grippers allow more careful handling of fragile items.
• Digital twins help test scenarios without stopping the real line.
• Safety and cybersecurity are becoming a mandatory part of the project, not an option added after launch.

Service segments, where the environment is less predictable than on a conveyor, stand to gain the most. In logistics, that means autonomous cargo movement and sorting; in cleaning, machines able to work in complex public spaces; in healthcare, robots and assistive systems that need precision and reliable interaction with people. The better a robot senses an object and the situation around it, the wider the range of tasks it can handle without manual tuning for each scenario.

The price of autonomy

The more independent robots become, the higher the cost of a mistake. When a machine is connected to a corporate network, uses cloud models, receives updates and exchanges data with other systems, security stops being a formality. Teams need to control access, isolate critical circuits, verify updates, monitor for anomalous behavior and understand in advance what happens if a sensor or model fails. For factories, warehouses and clinics, this is no longer engineering diligence but a basic condition of deployment.

The second big question is liability. When a robot follows a rigid script, the boundaries are clearer: there is the manufacturer, the integrator and the operator. When a system learns, adapts and makes more decisions on site, assigning responsibility is harder. That is why, in the coming years, the market will grow not only through new hardware but also through standards, certification, cybersecurity and stricter operating rules. The winners will not simply be the smartest robots, but those that can be safely put into a real process.

What this means

The robotics market is entering a phase where polished demos matter less than speed of deployment, flexibility and reliability. For businesses, it is a signal to look beyond the robot itself to AI control, digital twins, data and the security of the entire system.