Hexagon: More than half of adults excited by robots

Robots are increasingly integrated into business operations. Credit: Humanoid

Hexagon data reveals 59% of adults are excited to work with robots, but a rising “Robot Generation” of children is far more eager for AI workplaces

New data from Hexagon suggests that more than half of adults are excited about the prospect of working with robots.

The data contrasted adults' views with those of children, who have differing views and will lead the next generation. Four in five children (80%) say they are excited about robots, compared with 59% of adults, the data found.

Burkhard Boeckem, CTO at Hexagon, told AI Magazine: “The next generation of employees may be ready for robots before the workplaces they enter are.

“Children are almost 50% more likely than adults to be excited about working alongside a robot, which tells us something important about where the future of work is headed.”

Burkhard Boeckem, CTO at Hexagon. Credit: Burkhard Boeckem/LinkedIn

Key facts

Britain records a 33% gap in excitement about robots, the largest of any country surveyed, with 80% of children excited compared with 47% of adults.

By contrast, the gap is just nine points in China (90% vs 81%). China is the world leader in robotics deployments.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, China has further expanded its global market share of industrial robot installations: A total of 354,000 units were deployed in 2025. This equates to almost three out of every five installations worldwide, marking a new peak.

The US trails in second place behind the Asian superpower; it surpassed Japan in 2025 to become the second-largest market for industrial robots, following China. Installations of industrial robots grew by 12% to almost 38,500 units, according to IFR data.

The excitement gap was 11 points in India (89% vs 78%), and 12 points in Brazil (87% vs 75%). Overall, the findings suggest what Hexagon calls “the Robot Generation” is emerging globally, but adults in some countries are much more enthusiastic than others.

Children also have greater real-world exposure to robotics. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) have encountered a robot firsthand, compared with 48% of adults.

The contrast is particularly striking in Britain, where adults are more familiar with robots through films, television, books and games (77%) than through real-world encounters (30%).

Four in five children (80%) say they are excited about robots, compared with 59% of adults, the Hexagon data found. Credit: Google DeepMind

Growing up with AI

Children's different levels of excitement may reflect the fact that they are growing up with AI and greater exposure to robotics than previous generations.

Globally, 85% have used AI in the past three months, compared with 75% of adults, and nearly two-thirds (63%) see value in accessing AI chatbots through a physical robot, compared with 47% of adults.

Burkhard added: “For young people growing up with AI, working alongside intelligent machines may not feel like a major shift, but it will increasingly become a normal part of working life.

“The opportunity now is to make sure businesses are ready for that future too and are thinking about how robots can support people in the workplace, while keeping human judgement and skills at the centre.”

Children are almost 50% more likely than adults to be excited about working alongside a robot colleague (59% vs 40%).

In Britain, that workplace divide is particularly pronounced, with 58% of children saying they would be excited to work alongside a robot colleague, compared with just 28% of adults. Globally, 20% of children compared with 14% of adults believe robots could “be the boss”.

East-West skeptic divide

Meanwhile, robot scepticism is apparently rife in British adults. It records one of the highest levels of concern over robots (52%), compared with 44% in China and 29% in South Korea. Hexagon's study found that 35% of Japanese adults feel worried about robots, compared to 28% of children.

Western scepticism of robotics compared to Japan is well recorded. Joi Ito has previously written for Wired: “It’s not that Westerners haven’t had their fair share of friendly robots like R2-D2 and Rosie, the Jetsons’ robot maid.

“But compared to the Japanese, the Western world is warier of robots.” Joi cites an unnamed Japanese professor at a meeting organised by the Honda Foundation in the 1980s as providing some explanation for this divide.

Joi explains the professor made the case that the Japanese had more success integrating robots into society because of their country’s indigenous Shinto religion, which remains the official national religion of Japan. “Followers of Shinto, unlike Judeo-Christian monotheists and the Greeks before them, do not believe that humans are particularly ‘special’”, Joi explained.

While Western tradition rejects assigning human traits to machines as primitive or dangerous, a fear arguably dating back to 19th-century Luddites, Japan openly embraces anthropomorphism, treating factory robots like named, uniformed colleagues rather than hostile threats, according to the professor’s example, cited by Joi.

Hexagon's key partners

• NVIDIA: American technology leader specializing in GPU computing, artificial intelligence hardware and digital twin platforms.

• Microsoft: Global technology titan providing cloud computing infrastructure, enterprise softwareand enterprise AI solutions.

• Deloitte: Multinational professional services network offering management consulting, digital transformationand risk advisory services.