Rising wages, labor shortages, and demand for faster deliveries are pushing warehouses to adopt more robots, according to The Wall Street Journal. North American companies ordered nearly 18,000 robots worth $1.2 billion in the first half of 2026, with orders up 2% from a year earlier.
Companies are using automation to reduce costs, handle physically demanding jobs and improve supply-chain resilience. Major logistics operators are investing heavily in technologies ranging from autonomous forklifts and inventory drones to humanoid robots, while more affordable subscription models are making automation easier to adopt.
