Robotics is quietly becoming the next AV platform
When people think about robotics, they tend to picture factory automation, warehouse logistics or humanoid assistants. Few would immediately associate robots with the professional AV industry.
That is beginning to change.
Across broadcast, live events, virtual production, museums, corporate communications and public spaces, robotics is steadily becoming another layer of the audiovisual ecosystem. Cameras move autonomously. Lighting rigs reposition themselves. Displays adapt to changing environments. Mobile platforms carry sensors, screens and communication technologies exactly where they are needed.
Increasingly, the question is no longer whether robots will use AV technologies. It is whether AV systems themselves are becoming robotic.
This shift reflects a broader transformation taking place across the industry. For decades, audiovisual technology has largely been designed for fixed locations and predictable environments. Install a display. Mount a camera. Position a loudspeaker. Configure the system and leave it in place.
Robotics challenges that assumption.
As automation, AI and machine vision mature, AV systems are becoming capable of movement, adaptation and autonomous operation. Rather than remaining static infrastructure, they are beginning to respond dynamically to people, spaces and changing operational requirements.
These developments were explored during the Robotics Megatrends session How Audiovisual Robotics are Transforming the AV Industry at ISE 2026, which examined how robotics is moving beyond specialist applications and becoming increasingly relevant across the wider AV sector.
Broadcast provides one of the clearest examples. Robotic camera systems have become commonplace in news production, reducing repetitive tasks while allowing production teams to operate more efficiently. But the same principles are now extending into virtual production, live entertainment and corporate environments, where automation can improve flexibility as much as productivity.
Artificial intelligence is accelerating the trend further.
Robots are no longer simply following pre-programmed movements. By combining AI with cameras, sensors and computer vision, they can interpret their surroundings, avoid obstacles, track subjects and adapt their behaviour in real time. The result is equipment that behaves less like a machine executing instructions and more like an intelligent participant within a wider AV system.
That creates new opportunities for system designers.
A robot carrying a display can become dynamic digital signage. An autonomous camera can support hybrid meetings or remote production. A mobile platform equipped with sensors, microphones and displays can provide information, wayfinding or audience interaction exactly where it is needed, without permanent infrastructure.
The implications extend well beyond technology itself. As robotics becomes more accessible, organisations will increasingly evaluate projects in terms of flexibility rather than fixed installations. Instead of asking where technology should be mounted, they may begin asking how it should move.
For integrators, manufacturers and end users alike, this represents a subtle but significant shift in thinking. The boundaries between robotics, AI, networking and professional AV are becoming increasingly blurred, creating opportunities for entirely new types of solutions.
These are exactly the kinds of cross-disciplinary conversations taking place at ISE, where emerging technologies are no longer viewed in isolation but as connected parts of a rapidly evolving ecosystem. As robotics becomes another platform for audiovisual experiences, understanding that convergence will become increasingly important for anyone designing the next generation of intelligent spaces.
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Further reading
Discover more about Emerging Technologies, including robotics and AI, at ISE
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