I’ve been writing about personal finance since the early 1990s and about stock investing since the early 1980s.
One thing I learned is that you can’t stop the future, but you can prepare for it and take advantage of it.
Perfect example: Today we see headlines about retail recessions and warehouse automation replacing human workers. I recently read a report that predicted that the global robotics market could increase from about $65 billion today to more than $65 billion $375 billion by 2035.
That’s scary if you’re a factory worker. But if you’re an investor, this is the kind of trend that can make you a lot of money.
Basically, if you can’t beat the robots, buy them.
Of course, Wall Street knows this too. The hype machine is in full swing and if you’re not careful, you could end up buying the equivalent of 2026’s Pets.com.
This is how I view the robotics revolution, and how you can get in on the action without losing your shirt. But before we start, remember that this is not investment advice. I just say what I think, I don’t tell you what to do.
The difference between a cool demo and a good company
Every time I turn on the news, I see a video of a humanoid robot doing a backflip or folding laundry. It looks great. It also distracts you from the boring truth about making money.
A report from Morgan Stanley recently hit the nail on the head “embodied AI”: There is a huge gap between a robot that can dance and a robot that can do useful work on a large scale in the real world.
When researching investments, you should ignore the sci-fi stuff and look for the ‘boring’ robots. I’m talking about the unsexy machines already working in Amazon warehouses, painting cars in Detroit, or assisting surgeons in the operating room.
These companies have actual revenue, not just cool YouTube videos.
Don’t try to pick the winner
In the late 1990s, everyone knew that the Internet was going to be huge. But for every Amazon, there were a hundred companies that went to zero.
The robotics sector is feeling exactly the same way right now. In China alone, there are now more than 200 companies building humanoid robots. Most of them will no longer exist in five years.
That’s why I rarely buy individual stocks in a speculative sector. I prefer to buy the whole basket.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) allow you to own a piece of dozens of robotics companies at once. If one goes bankrupt, your portfolio won’t be wiped out. If one becomes the next Tesla, you still capture some of that growth.
The funds I’m looking at
There are a few big players in this space that will do the heavy lifting for you.
1. The aggressive game:
You may have heard of the ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ). This fund is actively managed, which means there are people picking the stocks instead of just following a computer algorithm. This fund returned in 2025 almost 49%crushing the market average.
However, remember that high reward comes with high risk. Active funds charge higher fees – around 0.75% – and they can have bad years just as easily as great years.
2. The Broad Bet:
If you want something a little more diversified, check out the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ). It includes companies involved in industrial robotics and automation, as well as the AI software that runs them. It includes big, established names such as NVIDIA and intuitive surgery.
3. The benchmark:
The ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF (ROBO) is one of the oldest funds in the space. It tends to distribute its money more evenly across countries small and large companiesinstead of betting the farm on a few tech giants.
What about individual stocks?
As I mentioned above, I rarely buy individual stocks in a speculative sector, especially one that is still in its infancy. But if you want to take the plunge into individual companies, here’s a little trick you can use for any investment sector: Find ETFs that specialize in that sector, go to the ETF homepages, and see what stocks are in the ETFs.
This way you can see which specific stocks the professionals who put together these ETFs invest in.
For example, if you search for “Global this page of the ETF’s sponsor. In addition to information such as performance and costs (always important), you will also find a list of all the individual companies in this ETF.
In this case, you’ll see that Nvidia is the top holding (which I’ve owned for a few years now), followed by Fanuc Corp., ABB LTD, Intuitive Surgical, and many more.
Does this mean you should blindly buy what the ETF managers are buying? No. But if you’re choosing stocks, a list of what they own is a good place to start further research on these names.
The ‘picks and shovels’ strategy
During the Gold Rush, the people who made the most consistent money weren’t the ones panning for gold. It was the people who sold the shovels.
In robotics, the “spades” are the components that every robot needs, regardless of which brand wins.
- Sensors and vision: Robots need to ‘see’. Companies that make lidar and machine vision cameras are essential.
- Semiconductors: You can’t have AI or automation without advanced chips.
- Motors and actuators: These are the muscles of the robot.
Many of the ETFs I mentioned above contain these types of companies. It’s a way to bet on the industry’s growth without having to guess which specific robot model will be the bestseller.
A warning before you buy
I want to be crystal clear: this is a volatile industry and profitability for many of these companies will take years.
If you’re nearing retirement, or you need your money for the next three years, you don’t want to put a big chunk of your money into robotics stocks. They will wave wildly.
But if you have a long-term investment horizon and want to hedge against the automation that could one day threaten your own job, it makes sense to put 5% of your portfolio into this sector.
Don’t be distracted by the dancing robots. Focus on those doing the work.
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