Automated Machines Invading Soon
Russia is making significant strides in enhancing its domestic capabilities in industrial robotics and automation, as part of the national project "Production and Automation Tools." This initiative reflects a strategic push to develop advanced industrial capabilities domestically, aimed at increasing Russia's technological sovereignty and reducing dependency on foreign technologies.
**Current State**
In February 2024, Russia launched its first "Robot Factory" in the Chelyabinsk Region, marking a significant step toward localizing robotics manufacturing. The factory, which produces and assembles industrial robots-manipulators under the RusRobot brand, is a symbol of this progress. The Chelyabinsk Region also hosts an Industrial Robotics Centre, supporting methodological development for automation, promoting the scaling of successful automation practices, and driving strategic initiatives for robotics across Russian enterprises.
Production facilities related to this project are established in key industrial cities like Tver, St. Petersburg, Engels, and Bryansk. For instance, Bryansk began serial production of Russian-made asphalt paving machines in 2025, filling a previous gap in domestic manufacturing of municipal and road construction equipment.
The government is also focusing on workforce development, with a projected need for over 2.2 million new professionals in civil industries by 2030, two-thirds of whom will come from secondary vocational education. To meet this demand, Russia has set up about 50 advanced engineering schools in partnership with nearly 200 high-tech companies, along with over 150 educational-industrial clusters supporting sectors including mechanical engineering and radio electronics.
**Future Goals**
By 2030, Russia aims to be among the top 25 countries worldwide in robotization density, which means introducing over 100,000 industrial robots into production chains across the country. The national project targets expansion beyond manufacturing robots themselves to include growing the ecosystem of robot integrators, system designers, and specialized personnel to support comprehensive industrial automation.
On a strategic policy level, Russia is working to coordinate and streamline support funds and development institutions to better facilitate technological modernization and high-tech production, reducing redundancy and increasing efficiency in business support for innovative manufacturing. The aim is to concentrate on producing more sophisticated, highly automated, and high value-added goods and services to enhance Russia’s industrial competitiveness and technological independence.
**Support for Small Enterprises**
Small enterprises and individuals developing innovative solutions for the machine-tool industry can receive a grant of up to 5 million rubles for project implementation. Moreover, the software for managing RusRobot robots is developed in Russia. The RusRobot RR-120-2900 model, which lifts loads up to 120 kg and replaces humans in hazardous areas, has already been supplied to strategically important enterprises and underwent comprehensive testing in April, subsequently being included in the registry of Russian industrial products.
In collaboration with the company "Internet Solutions" (OZON brand), "Valday Robots" is developing an autonomous transport robot "Argon" for logistics within and between enterprises. The introduction of "Argon" robots is expected to increase the efficiency of order pickers by 16%. Additionally, "Valday Robots" is creating intelligent robots for specific business tasks, including the courier robot "Silica" for delivering food and other small orders to homes.
In summary, the national project "Production and Automation Tools" is actively advancing Russia's domestic capabilities in industrial robotics and automation, aiming to build a strong ecosystem of production, integration, and skilled workforce by 2030. This will propel Russia into the global top ranks of robotization density and industrial automation sophistication, aligning with broader goals of technological sovereignty and modernization. Applications for the "Start-Stankostroitelstvo" competition, which supports machine tool and industrial robot producers, can be submitted on the GISP platform until July 28.
- With a focus on advancing domestic robotics manufacturing, the national project "Production and Automation Tools" in Russia has seen the emergence of a cybersecurity infrastructure to safeguard data-and-cloud-computing aspects in their technology-driven industry.
- To bolster this initiative, financial support is provided for small enterprises developing innovative solutions in the machine-tool industry, as part of the strategic push towards artificial-intelligence-driven manufacturing and automation technologies.
- By nurturing a workforce of over 2.2 million new professionals in civil industries by 2030, Russia is also investing in the future of their industrial robotics sector, with the help of advanced engineering schools in collaboration with high-tech companies.
- As part of the broader goal to reduce dependency on foreign technologies, Russia is working to develop industry expertise in finance, technology, and cybersecurity, aiming to expand their domestic manufacturing capabilities beyond simply producing industrial robots, to include the accompanying system designers and support personnel in a comprehensive industrial automation ecosystem.
