INTHEBLACK October 2026 - Magazine - Page 48
F E AT U R E
ROBOT DENSITY IN THE
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
Robots installed per 10,000 employees in 2024
Republic of Korea
1,220
Singapore
818
Germany
449
Japan
446
Sweden
377
Denmark
329
Slovenia
315
United States
307
Chinese Taipei
302
Switzerland
294
Netherlands
293
Austria
272
Canada
241
Italy
237
Belgium and Luxembourg
232
Czech Republic
216
Slovakia
210
France
195
Finland
183
Spain
183
Hungary
172
China
166
AVERAGES
World — 132
Western Europe — 267
North America — 204
Asia — 131
Source: International Federation of Robotics
READ
an article on
5 ways to track
the ROI of AI
UPSKILL
with CPA Australia’s
AI Tools for
Accountants
online course
48 INTHEBLACK October 2026
investment in these areas, although not
at the same scale as peer nations such as
Canada,” says Keay. “One of the challenges
we have is typically when a robotics company
earns annual revenues of between A$10 million
and A$100 million, they get acquired by
a foreign company.”
Major original equipment manufacturers
such as Swedish firms Epiroc and Sandvik
have made multiple acquisitions of smaller
technology and robotics firms over the
past decade. This includes Brisbane-based
autonomous robotics business Universal
Field Robotics in 2024 and Perth-based
mining automation and remote-control
firm RCT in 2022.
“Australia would be a lot better off
if government policies were set differently
to encourage these companies to resist
acquisition, or scale to the point where
they can acquire smaller robotics companies,”
says Keay.
Research shows the country has some
catching up to do. Australia currently has
272 robots per 10,000 workers, which is
well behind countries like Korea that has
1200, or Singapore that has 818.
“To rebuild Australian manufacturing
in the world of AI and robotics, we need
to increase the density of the take-up of
robots in industry so we can capitalise on
our areas of competitive advantage and find
new ones,” says University of Technology
Sydney emeritus professor, Roy Green AM.
The government’s A Future Made in Australia
policy, which is designed to attract private
sector investment into the Australian
manufacturing sector, should set the
foundations to support this vision.
“The plan envisages greater sovereign
capability — not to make everything in
Australia, but to do so in such a way it
does not make us any more vulnerable
than we are at present,” Green says. “In fact,
it should strengthen our self-sufficiency.
Robots connected with industrial AI are
a very important part of that strategy.” ■
