A parallel Modern Materials Handling 2026 Outlook Survey, also dated 10 September 2026, shows near-term caution on some capex but continued multi-year commitment to warehouse automation. Sixteen percent of respondents already run AMRs or AGVs, versus 10 percent a year earlier, and 27 percent will evaluate those platforms within one to two years. Industrial articulated or other robots are in use at 21 percent of sites (13 percent last year), with 24 percent planning evaluation.
For mobile robots the leading intended jobs are storage moves (42 percent), each pick-and-place (31 percent), bin picking (28 percent) and part-to-picker fulfillment (27 percent). Thirty-seven percent say their next project is a first deployment or a change of systems equipment such as AS/RS, conveyors or tote systems. Third-party logistics services as an automation path rose to 22 percent from 15 percent, suggesting some shippers will rent robotic capacity through 3PLs rather than own fleets.
The lift-truck companion study the same day reports 24 percent using or planning autonomous or semi-autonomous forklifts, up from 18 percent in 2025. The combined picture is that brownfield sites are layering AMRs, auto-forks and software on existing buildings, while greenfield e-commerce sites still specify dense AS/RS or rack-climbing robots. Spending is shifting from “buy a robot” to “buy a controllable process” that includes WMS, WCS and fleet managers.