The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 17-2199.08 · Job Zone 4

AI exposure: Robotics Engineers

Research, design, develop, or test robotic applications.

Reading this score

computed

37.2% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Robotics Engineers at the 65th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.5 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.

What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 24 tasks it averages 2.04 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.

The most exposed thing this job does is Create back-ups of robot programs or parameters, at 73.3%. The least is Install, calibrate, operate, or maintain robots, at 8.5%. A gap of 64.8% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.

Within architecture and engineering occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 37.5% across the group's 56 roles, with 30 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.

What would move this score. Of 24 tasks, 15 are currently banded exposed, 6 assisted and 3 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take cheaper ways to verify output, since the cost of checking is currently doing more to hold this work in place than the cost of producing it. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.

Task by task

24 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Create back-ups of robot programs or parameters.73.3%26.7%0.0%3.85exposed
Provide technical support for robotic systems.73.3%26.7%0.0%3.81exposed
Document robotic application development, maintenance, or changes.73.3%26.7%0.0%3.60exposed
Make system device lists or event timing charts.60.0%40.0%0.0%3.18exposed
Design software to control robotic systems for applications, such as military defense or manufacturing.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.75exposed
Evaluate robotic systems or prototypes.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.68exposed
Review or approve designs, calculations, or cost estimates.45.0%30.0%25.0%4.11exposed
Process or interpret signals or sensor data.45.0%30.0%25.0%4.04exposed
Conduct research on robotic technology to create new robotic systems or system capabilities.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.74exposed
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.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.61exposed
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.30.0%20.0%50.0%3.47exposed
Debug robotics programs.26.7%23.3%50.0%3.92exposed
Write algorithms or programming code for ad hoc robotic applications.26.7%23.3%50.0%3.41exposed
Plan mobile robot paths and teach path plans to robots.26.7%23.3%50.0%3.32exposed
Automate assays on laboratory robotics.26.7%23.3%50.0%2.71exposed
Design end-of-arm tooling.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.79assisted
Design robotic systems, such as automatic vehicle control, autonomous vehicles, advanced displays, advanced sensing, robotic platforms, computer vision, or telematics systems.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.78assisted
Investigate mechanical failures or unexpected maintenance problems.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.71assisted
Integrate robotics with peripherals, such as welders, controllers, or other equipment.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.69assisted
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.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.52assisted
Design robotics applications for manufacturers of green products, such as wind turbines or solar panels, to increase production time, eliminate waste, or reduce costs.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.11assisted
Build, configure, or test robots or robotic applications.18.5%23.2%58.3%3.89untouched
Supervise technologists, technicians, or other engineers.10.0%15.0%75.0%3.76untouched
Install, calibrate, operate, or maintain robots.8.5%8.2%83.3%3.68untouched

Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.

Where the score comes from

judged

Every task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability2.470-4
Embodiment1.000-3
Presence0.210-3
Accountability1.400-3
Context1.960-3
Verification cost2.040-3

What this means in practice

Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.

Occupations either side of this one

The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.

Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.