Robots are all around us. Not in a creepy way (mostly), but they’re used in manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, offshore energy assets, and increasingly in homes.

Like any emerging industry, the investment landscape has followed a similar pattern: steady increases, a big boom, and then a leveling off. 2022 started that leveling off process, with $16.3 billion in robotics investment in 2020, a big jump to $28 billion in 2021, and a return to $18.6 billion in 2022. (Data from Pitchbook and F-Prime Capital.)

In total, more than $90 billion has been invested in robotics since 2018. Most of the investment has been in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Israel, and is divided into three categories: 

• Vertical Robotics - Use-case specific and focusing on industries like logistics, medicine, defense, and manufacturing

• Autonomous Vehicles - Self-driving vehicles for use on public roads

• Enabling Systems - Hardware and software components for developing complete solutions

Brian Heater, who’s been covering robotics for 15 years, wrote in Techcrunch, “In spite of all that, however, robotics remains vibrant and exciting, and it unquestionably has a bright future of exponential growth ahead.”

Heater also talked to 13 (an unlucky number, but we’ll let it pass) VCs in the robotics space to hear where the industry is and what might lie ahead. (Some of the article is behind a paywall.) 

They discuss areas of focus for robotics, their role in sustainability, and the always-present question about their potential impact on jobs. The general consensus on that last point is that robots will change the work humans do but not necessarily “take our jobs.” Personally, I’m happy to let a robot vacuum my house while I do Very Important Work (nap). 

All signs point to continued investment in robotics, without a bubble in sight to pop.