Six in 10 Leaders Bet Big on Robots. Only Four in 10 Are Ready.

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Six in 10 senior business and IT leaders, robotics specialists, government and healthcare officials expect their organizations to operate robot fleets within five years.
• Leaders predict full-scale robotics deployment could double operational output.
• 67% believe they will be ready to manage a mixed human-robot workforce by 2030.
• 74% believe workforce planning and robotics strategy will become inseparable by 2030.
• Only 40% currently have a formal human-robot workforce strategy in place. 

SANTA CLARA, Calif., [August 20, 2026] — Robotics is no longer a bet on the future — it's a plan for the next five years. But according to new Intel research, The Robotics Readiness Gap, most organizations are moving faster than their operating models can support.

The study finds a stark disconnect: six in 10 senior leaders expect their organization to operate a fleet of robots within five years, but only four in 10 currently have a formal strategy to manage a mixed human-robot workforce. That gap between ambition and operational readiness is the central finding of the report.

Conducted in partnership with Man Bites Dog and Coleman Parkes Research, the research surveyed 800 senior business and IT leaders, robotics specialists, and government and healthcare officials across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China and South Korea. Respondents represented organizations with annual revenue exceeding $500 million.

The Robotics Readiness Gap confirms robotics has moved beyond experimentation. Organizations already deploying robots report measurable gains in productivity, quality and speed of service and increasingly view robotics not as a pilot project, but as a competitive necessity.

"The next phase of robotics adoption won't be defined by whether organizations can deploy robots — it will be defined by whether they're ready to scale them. Those that embed robotics and Physical AI into their core operations, rather than layering them on top of existing systems, will be the ones who capture the full value of this shift.”

— John Healy, Vice President and General Manager, Industrial and Robotics Division, Intel

Five Factors of Robotics Readiness

Intel's research identifies five factors that will separate organizations that scale robotics successfully from those that stall at the pilot stage:

• Strategy: Two-thirds (67%) of leaders are confident that their organization will be ready to manage a mixed human–robot workforce by 2030. Yet only 40% currently have a formal human-robot workforce strategy in place
• Skills: Two-thirds of leaders believe robotics will make their human workforce more skilled, not less. At the same time, four in 10 report that the availability of skills and talent is blocking their organization from scaling robotics.
• Safety: 31% of leaders cite safety as the area where robotics has delivered the greatest value. Meanwhile, 55% say safety concerns have delayed robotics deployment and 68% believe clearer global safety standards would help accelerate adoption.
• Shape: 77% of leaders say robotic performance matters more than appearance. Yet nearly two-thirds (65%) believe the ‘form factor’ of robots is currently dictated by technology limitations rather than real-world need.
• Scale: More than three-quarters of leaders say critical robotics applications require decisions within 100 milliseconds, with almost a quarter requiring responses in less than 10 milliseconds. Currently, 42% of organizations have a defined, funded edge or on-device AI strategy, while 39% are actively developing one. 

Robotics and Physical AI Are Converging

Robotics and Physical AI are fast becoming the next frontier of enterprise transformation, bringing AI-powered perception, reasoning and decision-making into dynamic industry environments. As adoption moves from pilots to scaled deployment, Intel's role: turning what works in the lab into infrastructure the whole market can build on. From edge AI silicon to the Intel Robotics AI Suite and OpenVINO Physical AI tools, Intel is building the foundation organizations need to close the readiness gap — not just participate in the robotics opportunity but scale it.

More: intel.com/robotics | Intel Robotics AI Suite | OpenVINO Physical AI