Strategic investment in Australia's robotics sector could add up to AU$201 billion to GDP by 2040, with the potential to increase annual incomes by AU$6,500 per person and create an average of 128,900 new jobs each year. These are just some of the findings in a new research report by ACIL Allen, commissioned by Amazon Australia.
ACIL Allen's economic modelling examined what would happen if Australia doubled its industrial robot density and boosted service robot adoption by 15% in non-manufacturing sectors. The analysis identifies concrete pathways for government, industry, and businesses to accelerate robotics development and capture significant productivity and employment gains, including the creation of new job categories in maintenance and technical support.
Australia stands at a critical juncture. While we possess world-class robotics research capabilities, particularly in field robotics for challenging, unstructured environments, we are behind global counterparts in production, adoption, and robotics-related employment. Industries like mining and agriculture already lead in robotics adoption, demonstrating what's possible when market conditions and innovation systems align. But there's enormous untapped potential to expand this innovation into service industries and manufacturing.
"Our analysis reveals that even relatively modest improvements to Australia's robotics sector could deliver substantial productivity benefits across the entire economy," says Alex Gash, Executive Director at ACIL Allen. "The modelling shows how strengthening both adoption and production of robotics can generate measurable gains in GDP, real wages, and employment. What's striking is the scaling effect: increases in robotics don't just benefit individual firms or sectors, they lift productivity economy-wide."
While the opportunity is substantial, realising it will require coordinated effort across Australia's innovation community. The transition from research breakthrough to commercial application needs stronger pathways and partnership, connecting our world-class university research capabilities with industry expertise and real-world opportunities. Strengthening infrastructure, including testing facilities, demonstration spaces, and industry partnerships, will be essential to scaling innovations and capturing global opportunities. The report identifies how strategic investment can strengthen these connections and create the collaborative frameworks that have driven robotics success internationally.
At Amazon, we've seen firsthand how assistive technology can help make work safer and easier, while providing pathways to new job categories and upskilling opportunities for employees.
The collaboration between our workforce and assistive technology is visible across our Australian operations. Our Hercules mobile robots, which handle heavy lifting so employees don’t have to, can lift and move up to 500 kilograms of inventory in our fulfillment centers. This reduces physical strain and ensures our people can focus on work that requires human judgement and skill.
We've also introduced DeepFleet, a generative AI foundation model that acts like an intelligent traffic management system for our robot fleet. By optimising how machines navigate our facilities, DeepFleet improves fleet travel efficiency by 10%, enabling faster order processing and delivery times. These technologies allow employees to focus on more complex, engaging tasks while driving demand for roles in robotics maintenance, systems operations, and technical support specialists.
Our commitment extends beyond our own operations. We've supported leading international innovation hubs, such as through our founding and ongoing sponsorship of MassRobotics,to help facilitate the development of assistive technologies.
"Industries like mining and agriculture already lead in robotics adoption, because we have the market and innovation system conditions to test and adopt robotics-based applications," Gash explains.
"If we can expand this appetite for innovation into other key service industries, we could have a generational opportunity to drive productivity growth. We have the testing grounds and the market need; now we need the investment to scale these solutions domestically and export them globally."
You can read the full ACIL Allen report here.
Next up, Amazon Australia is investing over $750M in a new robotics fulfilment centre in Queensland.
