An updated edition of the July 27, 2026, article.

American robotics is compounding momentum built earlier in 2026, with recent months delivering fresh deployments, funding and regulatory milestones across physical AI, surgical systems, defense autonomy, and elder care — reinforcing a compelling investment case for U.S. sector leaders, including NVIDIA (NVDA Quick QuoteNVDA - Free Report) , Teradyne (TER Quick QuoteTER - Free Report) , Zebra Technologies (ZBRA Quick QuoteZBRA - Free Report) and Globus Medical (GMED Quick QuoteGMED - Free Report) .

Physical AI, Manufacturing and Quantum Advances

Google DeepMind's launch of Gemini Robotics 2 pushed "whole-body intelligence" toward commercial reach, while Figure AI passed 1,000 Figure 03 units at its BotQ facility, sustaining roughly one robot per hour at its BMW Spartanburg pilot. Huntington Ingalls signed agreements worth up to $900 million with Path Robotics and GrayMatter Robotics, pairing autonomous welding with mobile quadrupeds for shipbuilding. XPeng's Dogotix raised more than $900 million toward its IRON humanoid, and Unitree debuted on Shanghai's STAR Market, closing up 460%. Unit economics, not AI capability, remain the binding constraint on factory-floor scaling.

On quantum, direct robotics fusion stays experimental: SandboxAQ and Northrop Grumman flight-tested quantum magnetic navigation on a drone, and Q-CTRL demonstrated GPS-free quantum gravimetric maritime navigation in late August. IBM/University of Chicago completed a 70-logical-qubit computation seen as relevant to future robot path-planning.

Surgical and Medical Robotics

Medtronic announced a roughly $700 million partnership with Cornerstone Robotics to distribute its Sentire system alongside Hugo. The FDA cleared Roen Surgical's Zamenix P ureteroscopic robot and Spineart/eCential Robotics' PERLA TL spine-navigation application. Beyond surgery, ABB Robotics partnered with Roche Diagnostics on physical AI for clinical labs, and September research examined muscle-sensing tools for robotic limbs and AI-based early Parkinson's detection, though broader adoption remains limited more by clinical trust than hardware readiness.

Defense and Space Robotics

The Pentagon's new DRPM-UxS authority consolidated drone and counter-drone programs, alongside Lockheed Martin's layered counter-drone architecture and reported plans for a roughly $5 billion loan supporting autonomous-systems compute. In space, DARPA and Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle, launched July 21 with Naval Research Laboratory arms, continued transit toward geosynchronous orbit ahead of 2027 satellite-servicing work for Optus, SES and the Space Force, while Frontiers in Robotics and AI published a collection on lunar and on-orbit servicing robotics.

Elder Care and Collaborative Robotics

Grand View Research now estimates the elder-care assistive robotics market will reach $9.8 billion by 2033 from $3.9 billion in 2026, with North America holding about a 39.8% share and caregiver shortages the primary driver. In collaborative robotics, MarketsandMarkets projected the cobot market at $3.38 billion by 2030, Teradyne escalated litigation against JAKA, Tate deployed 58 cobot welders, and Carnegie Mellon's HALO framework advanced reinforcement-learning human-robot teaming.

Taken together, maturing physical AI economics, a newly competitive surgical field, early quantum-navigation applications, deepening defense and space investment, and steady elder-care and cobot expansion point to a broadening growth runway for U.S. robotics stocks through year-end.

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NVIDIA enters the near term with genuine business momentum beyond its core AI computing franchise, as its robotics and physical AI platform gains real commercial traction. In July, this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company introduced Cosmos 3 Edge, enabling on-device robot reasoning on Jetson platforms, while Japanese manufacturers moved to adopt Isaac and Metropolis tools. August brought Jetson Orin Nano 2, doubling inference performance for entry-level robotics developers at lower power draw. September saw Skild AI apply NVIDIA's physical AI stack to teach robots new tasks from single video demonstrations, alongside expanding robotaxi partnerships. Layered onto third-quarter revenue guidance of $108 billion, this widening robotics ecosystem strengthens NVIDIA's positioning further across data center, edge and autonomous machine markets, supporting a constructive near-term outlook overall. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Teradyne's near-term setup is strengthening as its wafer-to-AI-data-center strategy broadens into robotics-driven physical AI. In September, Universal Robots launched its Gen 7 platform, featuring a redesigned CB7 controller, an AI-ready tool flange, and PolyScope X operating system, positioning Teradyne Robotics at the center of factory-floor AI adoption. In August, Teradyne Robotics initiated patent-infringement action against a Chinese cobot competitor, reinforcing its intellectual-property moat in collaborative automation. Following July's second-quarter update, guidance for the third quarter calls for revenues of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion, with management citing robust AI-related demand and rising wafer fab equipment investment supporting continued growth into 2027. Together, these developments suggest durable, AI-led momentum across this Zacks Rank #1 company’s semiconductor test and robotics businesses, supporting a constructive near-term outlook.

Zebra Technologies enters the back half of 2026 with fundamental tailwinds. For the quarter ended July 4, 2026, management raised full-year guidance, reflecting confidence in demand across Connected Frontline and Asset Visibility & Automation segments. This Zacks Rank #1 company continues sharpening its automation strategy: Photoneo's 3D machine vision now underpins vision-guided robotics applications in bin picking, depalletizing and volume measurement, while new direct sales overlays for machine vision, RFID and AI solutions target large manufacturers. Continued share repurchases signal disciplined capital allocation. With machine vision adoption accelerating industry-wide and Zebra deepening its role in intelligent, vision-enabled automation, the near-term setup looks constructive for continued operational momentum.

Globus Medical enters the back half of 2026 with clear momentum in its enabling-technology franchise. In September, the company secured European CE marking for Excelsius3D, its intelligent 3-in-1 intraoperative imaging platform, deepening integration with the ExcelsiusGPS robotic navigation system across the EU and the United Kingdom and reinforcing its differentiated, single-vendor Excelsius ecosystem spanning imaging, navigation and robotics. In August, management raised full-year non-GAAP EPS guidance to $4.95-$5.05, up from $4.70-$4.80, while reaffirming revenue guidance of $3.18-$3.22 billion, reflecting margin expansion and operating leverage. That same month, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company acquired Higgs Boson Health, adding AI-driven digital tools to its surgical intelligence pillar and broadening patient-and-provider engagement across the care episode. Together, these developments support continued technology-led share gains amid a broadening robotics pipeline.