Meet the Army of Robots Coming to Fill In for Scarce Workers

A new wave of robots is arriving—and, in a world short of workers, business leaders are more eager to welcome them than ever.

A combination of hard-pressed employers, technological leaps and improved cost effectiveness has fueled a rapid expansion of the world’s robot army. A half-million industrial robots were installed globally last year, according to data released Thursday by the trade group International Federation of Robotics—an all-time high exceeding the previous record, set in 2018, by 22%.