Robotics Engineers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 14% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 61% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 18% of the time, stays with people.
Research, design, develop, or test robotic applications.
$122,930 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on6 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet27 h
- Stays with people7 h
Robotics Engineers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 6 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 27 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 7 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Process or interpret signals or sensor data (about 2 h); Debug robotics programs (under an hour); Provide technical support for robotic systems (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 82%
- 3%
- 15%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 3%. Today's estimate: 14%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 403rd largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 1 of its 24 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.072% to 0.1% (released February and March 2025); 0.077% to 0.1% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.011% to 0.011% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.072% | 219 of 708 | 8 of 24 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.1% | 161 of 703 | 10 of 24 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.077% | 179 of 655 | 8 of 24 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.15% | 105 of 672 | 10 of 24 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.1% | 162 of 677 | 9 of 24 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 385 of 434 | 1 of 24 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 403 of 447 | 1 of 24 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 23% of this job's working time as physical work. For 1% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 1% in a purpose-built cell. 0.01 of 3, the 648th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 77%
- No robot shown 22%
- In a purpose-built cell 1%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design robotic systems, such as automatic vehicle control, autonomous vehicles, advanced displays, advanced sensing, robotic platforms, computer vision, or telematics systems.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 1.5 work months | 1%Half by Aug 2028 | |
| Design software to control robotic systems for applications, such as military defense or manufacturing.Done more than yearly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 1.7 work weeks1.7 work days to 1.5 work months | 1%Half by Oct 2028 | |
| Conduct research on robotic technology to create new robotic systems or system capabilities.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 1.6 work months | 1%Half by Sep 2028 | |
| Conduct research into the feasibility, design, operation, or performance of robotic mechanisms, components, or systems, such as planetary rovers, multiple mobile robots, reconfigurable robots, or man-machine interactions.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 1.9 work months | 1%Half by Oct 2028 | |
| Design automated robotic systems to increase production volume or precision in high-throughput operations, such as automated ribonucleic acid (RNA) analysis or sorting, moving, or stacking production materials.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 1.5 work months | 1%Half by Aug 2028 | |
| Design or program robotics systems for environmental clean-up applications to minimize human exposure to toxic or hazardous materials or to improve the quality or speed of clean-up operations.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 9% | 1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 1.5 work months | 1%Half by Aug 2028 | |
| Process or interpret signals or sensor data.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 6% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.7 work days | 71%Half by now | |
| Design robotics applications for manufacturers of green products, such as wind turbines or solar panels, to increase production time, eliminate waste, or reduce costs.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 work weeks2.1 work days to 1.5 work months | 1%Half by Aug 2028 | |
| Write algorithms or programming code for ad hoc robotic applications.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 4.2 work days | 40%Half by Jan 2027 | |
| Build, configure, or test robots or robotic applications.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 4.2 work days | Stays with people | |
| Integrate robotics with peripherals, such as welders, controllers, or other equipment.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week | Stays with people | |
| Debug robotics programs.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 3.3 h50 min to 2.1 work days | 63%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Robotics Engineers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 14% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 61% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (31% to 79% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Robotics Engineers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Process or interpret signals or sensor data (71% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Debug robotics programs (63% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Provide technical support for robotic systems (88% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Robotics Engineers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Build, configure, or test robots or robotic applications; Integrate robotics with peripherals, such as welders, controllers, or other equipment; and Evaluate robotic systems or prototypes. Together such tasks are about 18% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Robotics Engineers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.011% went to this job's tasks, the 403rd largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 1 of its 24 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 7%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Robotics Engineers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 23% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 1% of the working time. Its index is 0.01 of 3. One example: Coscientist (GPT-4 agent + Opentrons OT-2 liquid handler, heater-shaker, plate reader) for "automate assays on laboratory robotics". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 24 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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