ABB Robotics is the industrial robot business of the Swiss engineering group ABB, and it is being sold. On October 8, 2025, ABB agreed to sell its Robotics division to Japan’s SoftBank Group for an enterprise value of $5.375 billion. As of October 19, 2026, the sale has not closed: ABB’s second-quarter report (July 16, 2026) still calls it an ongoing divestment and expects closing in the second half of 2026. ABB reports third-quarter results on October 20, 2026, the next official update. Until closing, ABB Robotics keeps selling and servicing robots under the ABB name.
The deal in numbers
From ABB’s October 8, 2025 announcement:
- **Buyer and price:** SoftBank Group Corp., enterprise value $5.375 billion.
- **What’s sold:** the Robotics division, about 7,000 employees, with 2024 revenue of $2.3 billion (about 7% of ABB Group revenue) and a 12.1% operational EBITA margin.
- **What stays with ABB:** the Machine Automation division, which had been paired with Robotics in one business area, moves into ABB’s Process Automation business area.
- **The old plan:** ABB dropped its earlier intention to spin Robotics off as a separately listed company.
- **Timing:** closing was expected in mid-to-late 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions.
SoftBank’s own release announced the acquisition the same day.
Where the sale stands now
ABB’s Q2 2026 results, published July 16, 2026, describe “the ongoing divestment of the Robotics business” and repeat that closing is expected in the second half of the year. ABB now reports its guidance on a discontinued-operations basis, which means Robotics is already separated from the continuing business in its financial statements. ABB also lowered its expected net cash proceeds to about $4.8 billion, from about $5.3 billion in the 2025 announcement, and plans to put that money toward its acquisition of Rotork.
Neither company has announced a closing date. Check ABB’s October 20 results and SoftBank’s newsroom for the next update.
What ABB Robotics makes
ABB’s robotics product pages list five groups:
- **Industrial arms:** six-axis articulated robots from small (1.5–12 kg payload) to large (70–800 kg), plus delta robots for fast picking (IRB 360, IRB 365, IRB 390 FlexPacker) and SCARA robots for small-part assembly (IRB 910INV, IRB 920T, IRB 930).
- **Collaborative robots:** GoFa (CRB 15000, 5, 10 and 12 kg versions), the newer, faster PoWa (CRB 1910 and CRB 1920), and the single- and dual-arm YuMi.
- **Mobile robots:** the Flexley range for intralogistics, including Flexley Tug for towing trolleys and Flexley Mover units, plus goods-to-person robots. These came from ABB’s purchase of ASTI Mobile Robotics. Our article on the Flexley Stack F712 forklift covers one model.
- **Controllers:** the OmniCore family, which runs the robot lineup.
- **Software:** RobotStudio for offline programming and simulation, AMR Studio for mobile robots, Wizard Easy Programming for no-code setup, AppStudio for custom interfaces, and OptiFact for production data.
Prices aren’t published. Industrial and collaborative robots are quoted through ABB sales or system integrators, and the quote usually covers the arm, controller, software options, tooling and integration.
What changes for owners and buyers
Nothing changes until the deal closes, and neither company has published post-closing changes to product names, warranties or service contracts. If you own ABB robots or are about to sign:
- Ask your ABB contact or integrator which entity will hold your service contract and warranty after closing.
- Ask whether software licenses (RobotStudio, RobotWare options) and spare-parts supply carry over unchanged.
- Keep the robot’s serial numbers and contract numbers handy; a change of legal entity can mean new paperwork, not new terms.
How SoftBank will brand or reorganize ABB Robotics after closing hasn’t been announced, so treat any rebranding talk as speculation until it shows up in an official release.
If you’re choosing an industrial arm, our guide to choosing by payload, reach and accuracy applies to ABB and its rivals alike. For ABB’s mobile robots, start with the AMR vs AGV guide if you’re looking at ABB’s mobile robots.