Top Robotics Events & Conferences of 2026
A calendar of the year’s biggest robotics gatherings — the ones already held and the ones still to come — with verified dates and cities, and a note on why each one matters if your job is to rent or buy robots rather than build them.
Robotics shows are where the next thing you rent or buy gets its first public outing. They are also where suppliers meet customers, where prices and lead times get set, and — for anyone booking robots for a stand — where demand for trade-show robots peaks. Below are the marquee events of 2026, in date order, split into those already held and those still ahead. Every date and city here is drawn from the organizers’ own listings.
Already held this year
CES 2026 — Las Vegas
The Consumer Technology Association’s flagship show opened the year, and robots were front and centre — humanoids, robot arms and autonomous machines spread across the halls. CES sets the tone for what consumer- and service-robot makers will push all year, which is why it is worth watching even if you never buy on the floor.
ICRA 2026 — Vienna
The IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation is the field’s premier research gathering. Held at Messe Wien in June, it is where the algorithms behind next year’s commercial robots get their first airing — the pipeline that eventually reaches the robot types you can actually rent.
Automate 2026 — Chicago
Run by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), Automate is North America’s largest automation and robotics trade show. Its 2026 edition ran in Chicago with a dedicated Humanoid Robot Forum, underlining how quickly humanoids have moved from research halls onto the exhibition floor.
Booking a robot for a stand or activation?
See trade-show robotsStill to come in 2026
IROS 2026 — Pittsburgh
The IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems heads to Pittsburgh — a city the organizers nickname “Roboburgh” for its research base. Like ICRA, IROS is a research conference, but it is a reliable early read on the capabilities that turn into products.
RoboBusiness 2026 — Santa Clara
RoboBusiness is the commercial counterpart to the research shows — a gathering built around the business of deploying robots, from funding to Robots-as-a-Service. If you want to understand where the rental and service-robot market is heading, this is the one to track. It links naturally to our reporting on industry growth and trends.
Humanoids 2026 — Silicon Valley
The IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots closes the year in its 25th edition. With humanoids now the industry’s centre of gravity — see our roundup of 2026’s humanoid launches — this is the definitive technical showcase for the machines that increasingly headline events and activations.
Why it matters if you rent or buy
You do not have to attend to benefit. Shows are where suppliers reveal new models, adjust pricing and take bookings, so the weeks around a major event are often the best time to compare quotes. They are also a shortcut to due diligence: a company exhibiting at Automate or RoboBusiness is a company you can vet. When you are ready to move from watching to booking, skip the badge queue and compare verified robot companies in the directory — many of the names on these floors are already listed.
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Related news
Sources
- CES / Consumer Technology Association — CES 2026 dates and location (ces.tech).
- IEEE ICRA 2026 — official conference site (dates and Messe Wien, Vienna venue).
- Association for Advancing Automation (A3) — Automate 2026 dates and McCormick Place, Chicago venue.
- IEEE/RSJ IROS 2026 — official conference site (dates and Pittsburgh venue).
- RoboBusiness 2026 — organizer and event listings (dates and Santa Clara venue).
- IEEE-RAS Humanoids 2026 — official conference site (dates and Silicon Valley location).
Dates and cities are taken from the organizers’ published listings as of publication; always confirm details on the official event site before travelling.