Automate Takeaways: Vision Clear, Integration Critical, Humanoids Premature

Research evidence excerpt

Automate Takeaways: Vision Clear, Integration Critical, Humanoids Premature

TD SECURITIES (USA) LLC INDUSTRY UPDATE

July 1, 2026

■Diversified Industrials, Automation & Automate Takeaways: Vision Clear,

Robotics Integration Critical, Humanoids Premature

Joe Giordano, CFA THE TD COWEN INSIGHT

646 562 1405

We attended Automate 2026 in Chicago, speaking with players across automation, vision,

joe.giordano@tdsecurities.com

AMRs, and humanoids. We believe the NT opportunity remains most tangible in machine vision

Michael Anastasiou and the integration layer, while humanoids still feel early. Our note highlights takeaways from

646 562 1437 CGNX, ZBRA, ROK, TDY, and select private/public peers.

michael.anastasiou@tdsecurities.com

Chris Grenga, CFA See our takeaways from our recent visit to the Modex trade show HERE,

646 562 1387

Key Pointschris.grenga@tdsecurities.com

■Overall demand for automation equipment is roughly in the normalized MSD range

as several end markets tied to key mega themes (semi / data center / increasingly life

sciences, etc.) are seeing exceptional strength, while large traditional automation heavy

markets (auto / F&B, etc.) remain subdued.

■Machine vision felt like one of the more immediately actionable categories, with AI

primarily improving ease of deployment and acting as a moat vs. commoditization of their

platforms and/or prompting a refresh cycle for newer products. We see cameras with

embedded compute and industrial PC based vision coexisting with applicability depending

on use case. CGNX/ZBRA are our preferred ways to play this theme.

■Integration remains one of the biggest unlocks in automation. Across robotics, controls,

and humanoids, a recurring theme was that customers still struggle with fragmented