Imported Robots, Local Service: Questions for Your Integrator

Where most US robots come from

Most of the industrial robots installed in the United States are made overseas. In its September 24, 2026 release, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) says the majority of US robots are still imported from Japan and Europe, even though the country has numerous domestic robot system integrators. For a facility team, that split matters less at the proposal stage than on the night a robot faults and someone has to answer for it.

The short answer is that where a robot was built tells you little about how well it will be serviced. What decides service is who keeps spare parts within reach, who can walk onto your floor, and who holds the warranty paperwork. Those are integrator questions, and they belong in the conversation before a lease is signed.

What the 2025 install data shows

IFR reports that US installations reached 38,400 industrial robots in 2025, up 12%. That put the US ahead of Japan's 36,200 and into second place behind China, which installed 354,200 units, or 59% of global demand. Automotive remained the largest US customer at 13,500 installations, down 1%, while food and beverage rose 30% to 2,900.

IFR president Jane Heffner linked part of the growth to food, warehousing and logistics, according to trade coverage of the release. The import sentence is not new either. IFR's earlier release on 2024 data used the same framing, with 34,200 US installs. The customer mix is shifting, but the supply base is still largely overseas.

Why the installed base sets service demand

IFR counts a global operational stock of 5.079 million robots, up 9%. Every one of those machines eventually needs backups, fault finding and recalibration, sometimes after a crash or a motor change. An analyst commentary on the IFR figures calls the installed base a maintenance market for exactly that reason. That commentary is analyst opinion, not an IFR statement.

Service demand is growing on the professional side too. A secondary summary of IFR's global data says professional service robots grew 24% to 250,000 units, with mobile robots for transportation making up 47% of those installs. Inspection and maintenance and professional cleaning were named among the fastest-growing application areas. Global sales for transport and logistics rose 21% to 117,500 units. More machines in more buildings means more calls for engineers who can reach them.

How spare parts lead times change with origin

Our research did not turn up a public source this run that gives spare parts lead times for imported or domestic robots, so this article will not put a number on them. The logic is still worth understanding. A part that ships from overseas usually passes through more handoffs, such as export, customs and a domestic freight leg, than a part already sitting on a shelf in the United States.

The location of the stock matters more than the location of the maker. A domestic integrator that keeps parts for your model in a US warehouse can respond faster than one that orders on demand, and both may describe themselves as domestic. Ask where the part is on the day you call, not where the company is headquartered.

Local engineers and response coverage

Coverage is about people as much as parts. A robot gets fixed quickly only when an engineer who knows that model can reach the building. Many integrators are domestic, which helps, but the useful question is how many trained engineers sit within practical driving range of your address, and who backs them up when that engineer is already on another call.

This is the work Service Robot Co. is built around. We are a full service commercial robot integrator that works across manufacturers. We pick the right robots, then finance, deploy, integrate, train and service every unit through a nationwide US engineer network, so one team holds the whole lifecycle. The lease runs three years, and the fixed payment is quoted after a site assessment, which keeps service expectations and cost in the same document.

Warranty handling when the maker is overseas

The research for this piece did not include a verified source on warranty handling for imported versus domestic robots, so we will not describe a standard process. A warranty question can run through the manufacturer, the integrator, or both, and the answer changes who files the claim and who waits for the part. Teams that never asked in writing often learn the answer during an outage.

Get the split on paper. Ask whether the warranty sits with the manufacturer, the integrator, or both, and who opens the claim. Ask what happens to your robot while the claim is open, including whether a spare unit is placed on site and whether that cost is inside the agreement.

Questions to put to your integrator

Bring these to the first call and ask for written answers. A vague reply is also a finding.

• Which spare parts for our model are stocked in the US, and in which location?
• What is the committed time from a fault report to an engineer on site, and is that time written into the contract?
• How many engineers are based within practical driving range of our address, and who covers when they are busy?
• Do you hold a spare unit for our site, and what is the swap process on the day of a fault?
• What does remote triage check before a dispatch, and who answers at 2 a.m.?
• Who holds the warranty, who files each claim, and who pays for parts and labor while it is open?
• If a part must come from abroad, who pays the freight, and how long do you say that takes?

How to test the answers before you sign

Ask for a redacted service log from a comparable site, with fault times, dispatch times and parts used. A log shows what happened, while a brochure shows what was intended. Compare the log against the response commitment in the contract, and ask how the integrator starts and stops the response clock.

A site assessment is the right moment for this check. Our process begins with a site assessment and floor mapping, and the fixed lease payment is quoted after that step, so service commitments can be written into the same plan as the install. Whichever integrator you choose, the test is simple: when a robot stops, someone local should know exactly what to do.