Robotics Takes Center Stage at CES 2026 as Policy, Capital, and AI Converge

As CES 2026 gets underway in Las Vegas from January 4–9, robotics is emerging as one of the defining themes kicking off the new year. What was once a sideshow of novelty demos and proof-of-concept machines is now moving firmly into the mainstream, driven by advances in artificial intelligence, simulation, and real-world deployment. CES is increasingly less about futuristic spectacle and more about practical systems that solve labor shortages, boost productivity, and anchor the next phase of industrial and service-sector transformation.

The core shift is simple but profound: robotics is becoming the physical expression of AI. Large language models and computer vision have already reshaped software; robotics is how that intelligence leaves the screen and enters factories, warehouses, hospitals, and public venues. Advances in simulation, synthetic data, and reinforcement learning are shortening deployment cycles and lowering the cost of training machines in messy, real-world environments. This is why 2026 is increasingly being framed as a “humanoid moment,” where general-purpose robots move beyond gimmicks toward economically useful tasks like grasping, manipulation, logistics, and service work.

CES is the ideal launchpad for this transition, and companies are arriving in Las Vegas eager to show that robotics is no longer just coming “someday.” Richtech Robotics (RR) plans to debut its mobile humanoid robot Dex at CES 2026, highlighting enhanced functionality built around real-world data, simulation training, and a broader robotics framework designed for commercial and industrial productivity. The pitch fits squarely with the show’s broader narrative: robots trained in simulation, refined in deployment, and scaled across environments facing chronic labor shortages.

Richtech has already placed robots into high-visibility environments. At Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena, its ADAM robot—short for Automated Dual Arm Mixologist—is pouring drinks for Golden Knights fans. Built using NVIDIA’s Isaac robotics libraries and trained inside NVIDIA Isaac Sim on Omniverse, ADAM represents a real attempt to address labor constraints in hospitality while also delivering a novelty experience. According to Richtech, ADAM was trained in a high-fidelity virtual bar, learning to recognize objects under glare, reflection, and changing lighting before ever serving a real customer. That simulation-first approach is increasingly standard across the robotics industry. However, RR has its detractors as evidenced by the Capybara Research.

The broader market has taken notice. Robotics-linked stocks have rallied sharply on reports that the Trump Administration is now turning its focus from AI to robotics as the next strategic frontier. Names like AEVA, ARBE, SERV, RR, SYM, TER, and even TSLA all moved higher following a Politico report that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been meeting with robotics CEOs and is “all in” on accelerating industry development. The administration is reportedly considering an executive order on robotics in 2026, while the Department of Transportation is preparing a robotics working group.

This policy shift matters. Robotics is increasingly being framed as a national competitiveness issue, particularly in the context of China. The International Federation of Robotics estimates China already has roughly 1.8 million industrial robots deployed—about four times as many as the U.S. Countries including China, Japan, Germany, Australia, and Singapore all have formal national robotics strategies. U.S. policymakers are now signaling that robotics, like AI, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing, sits at the intersection of economic growth, national security, and supply-chain resilience.

The Trump administration’s approach reflects a familiar playbook: industrial policy, tax incentives, and potential federal funding to accelerate domestic adoption, combined with trade measures aimed at countering Chinese subsidies and intellectual-property practices. Industry leaders argue that reshoring manufacturing without robotics is unrealistic, and that advanced automation is essential if U.S. factories are to compete on cost and scale. Goldman Sachs estimates the global humanoid robotics market alone could reach $38 billion by 2035, while CB Insights shows funding for robotics is on pace to double year over year in 2025.

Still, this theme comes with real tension. Critics warn that aggressive automation could undermine one of the administration’s stated goals—reviving the U.S. manufacturing workforce. Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows automation can displace routine labor and suppress wages in certain roles. The industry’s counterargument is that robotics augments human workers, creating higher-skilled jobs in deployment, maintenance, programming, and systems integration. As Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas puts it, the goal is “man and machine,” not man versus machine.

For investors, CES 2026 provides a timely filter for separating durable robotics platforms from promotional stories. Large-cap beneficiaries are relatively clear. NVIDIA remains the most important robotics stock in the market, not because it builds robots, but because its GPUs, CUDA stack, Isaac libraries, and Omniverse simulation tools underpin much of the industry’s progress. Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) continues to dominate surgical robotics with a recurring-revenue model that has proven both scalable and defensible. Rockwell Automation (ROK) , ABB (ABB), Teradyne (TER), Fanuc, and Yaskawa represent the backbone of industrial robotics, where adoption is already economically justified.

On the logistics and warehouse side, Symbotic (SYM) and Zebra Technologies (ZBRA) offer exposure to robotics that are already embedded in large customer operations, with clearer line-of-sight to revenue. John Deere’s (DE) push into autonomous farming highlights how robotics is spreading beyond factories into agriculture. Aerospace and defense-oriented names like AeroVironment tie robotics to national security priorities, another tailwind under current policy conditions.

Smaller, emerging names—Richtech included—will command attention at CES, but they also warrant scrutiny. The robotics space is ripe for narrative excess, where pilot programs, flashy demos, and press releases can outpace commercial reality. As robotics becomes a favored policy and capital theme, investors will need to distinguish between companies building defensible IP and scalable platforms versus those primarily monetizing attention.

That’s what makes CES 2026 such an important moment. Robotics is no longer speculative—it’s strategic. With AI maturity, policy support, and capital alignment converging, the show in Las Vegas is less about what robots can do someday, and more about which companies are positioned to make robotics a defining growth engine of 2026 and beyond.