FILE PHOTO: A person works with robots at Procter & Gamble's factory in Tabler Station, West Virginia, U.S., May 28, 2021. REUTERS/Timothy Aeppel/File Photo
(Reuters) - North American companies ordered about a third fewer robots last year as worries about a slowing economy and higher interest rates made it harder to justify buying the advanced machines, the first hiccup in five years in what has been a steady progression of the robot invasion of the region's workforce.
"When the economy isn’t great, it’s easier to delay purchases," said Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, an industry group that tracks robot orders.
