This Week in Welding & Robotics — November 15, 2025–November 21, 2025
Automation demand rebounded while AI moved closer to the factory floor. This week’s developments point to rising capex for robots, accelerated deployment of AI-enabled cells, and new hardware/software that extends cobot reach, collapses process steps, and pushes collaborative automation into heavier industries.
Q3 robot orders rebound: 8,806 units, $574M; key sectors up 105%
Summary: North American robot orders rose in Q3 2025 to 8,806 units valued at $574 million, according to A3. That’s an 11.6% increase in units and a 17.2% rise in revenue versus prior periods, with A3 highlighting a 105% jump in orders from key sectors. The data signals a broad-based resurgence in automation investment.
Why it matters: The uptick points to renewed spending across welding, material handling, and assembly, favoring flexible, high-mix robotic systems and the peripherals that support them.
Source: Robotics and Automation News
Nvidia and Foxconn align to embed AI and robotics on factory lines
Summary: Nvidia and Foxconn announced a collaboration at Foxconn’s tech day to deploy AI and robotics across manufacturing lines. The initiative targets higher levels of automation and operational efficiency in industrial production. The companies aim to standardize AI-enabled capabilities on the shop floor.
Why it matters: Expect faster adoption of AI for vision-driven inspection, adaptive process control, and autonomous material flow—potentially shortening deployment cycles and improving line performance for robotic welding cells and adjacent automation.
Source: Reuters
Thomson Movotrak CTU adds 10 m reach and dual collision detection to cobots
Summary: Automation World reports the Movotrak 7th-axis linear transfer unit extends cobot travel up to 10 meters while maintaining ±25 μm positioning accuracy. The CTU integrates dual collision detection to preserve collaborative operation and safety. A single cobot can service multiple stations, targeting palletizing, weld inspection, and automotive assembly.
Why it matters: A safe, long-travel axis lets one cobot span multiple fixtures or inspection points, reducing cell count and footprint while maintaining precision and redeployability.
Source: Automation World
Mazak Optonics integrates laser cutting with on-machine drilling and milling
Summary: Mazak Optonics unveiled a modular, automated plate-processing system that combines fiber laser cutting with on-machine drilling and milling. Both processes can run simultaneously on the same workpiece, with the plate kept fixtured throughout. The approach eliminates intermediate part handling between cutting and machining operations.
Why it matters: Consolidating processes in one automated setup reduces setups and WIP, improves positional accuracy for holes and features, and shortens lead times—particularly valuable for high-mix plate parts.
Source: The Fabricator
Viam and Universal Robots bring AI-powered surfacing to shipbuilding
Summary: Viam partnered with Universal Robots to deploy UR cobots running Viam software in an AI-powered surfacing system for shipbuilding. The solution automates repetitive surface preparation and finishing tasks. The collaboration extends cobots into heavier industrial environments.
Why it matters: Automating surface prep improves consistency, safety, and throughput ahead of welding and coating, signaling growing readiness of cobots for rugged, high-mix industrial tasks.
Source: The Robot Report
Conclusion
A stronger capex backdrop combined with AI-first deployments and hardware that expands cobot reach suggests accelerated cell design cycles heading into 2026. Shops and integrators should align roadmaps around AI-enabled quality and process control, evaluate extended-reach CTUs, and consider integrated cutting–machining cells and standardized surface-processing solutions to capture the next wave of demand.
