Robotics Takes Center Stage in the Reshoring Debate at RoboBusiness 2026

Reshoring production to the U.S. is one of the defining challenges facing manufacturing today, and robotics sits at the center of the conversation. Robotics is a key enabler of reshoring production to the U.S. — but the path forward is anything but settled.

One complication is hard to ignore: most industrial automation is made by foreign-owned companies. That tension — between the desire to rebuild domestic manufacturing and the global nature of the automation supply chain — will be front and center at RoboBusiness 2026, which will be held on Oct. 20 and 21 in Santa Clara, Calif.

What's on the agenda

Industry experts at the event will discuss how to encourage manufacturers and robotics suppliers to reshore to or expand in the U.S. The panelists will also talk about multinational relationships, cybersecurity, and geopolitical concerns prompting reshoring efforts — a recognition that reshoring is as much a policy and security question as it is an engineering one.

The panel

The speaker lineup spans industry, academia, and technology policy:

• Michael Bearman: is the chief legal and safety officer at Vecna Robotics.
• Henrik I. Christensen: is the Qualcomm Chancellor's Chair of Robot Systems and a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of California San Diego.
• Ellie Sakhaee: leads AI & Emerging Tech policy research at Google.
• Brendan Schulman: is the vice president of policy and government relations at Boston Dynamics.

Eugene Demaitre: , editorial director of robotics at Arrowfly, will moderate. Arrowfly produces RoboBusiness, The Robot Report, Automated Warehouse, and the Robotics Summit & Expo.

Robotics already at work domestically

The reshoring discussion isn't purely theoretical. The Spot quadruped conducts inspections at a Michelin plant in Lexington, S.C. — a concrete example of advanced robotics deployed in U.S. manufacturing operations today, and the kind of application the panelists will be building on as they examine how policy, technology, and supply chains intersect.

For engineers and manufacturing professionals weighing automation investments against an uncertain trade and geopolitical landscape, the RoboBusiness 2026 reshoring panel promises a grounded look at where U.S. production is headed — and what role robots will play in getting there.