North American companies rush to add robots as demand surges

FILE PHOTO: Robots are seen inside the Ocado warehouse in Erith, London, Britain, October 13, 2021. REUTERS/Paul Childs/File Photo

(Reuters) - Companies in North America added a record number of robots in the first nine months of this year as they rushed to speed up assembly lines and struggled to add human workers.

Factories and other industrial users ordered 29,000 robots, 37% more than during the same period last year, valued at $1.48 billion, according to data compiled by the industry group the Association for Advancing Automation. That surpassed the previous peak set in the same time period in 2017, before the global pandemic upended economies.