We asked 15 Dscoop members one question: what comes to mind when you hear "robotics" in the context of your print business?
One said "more business." One said "it's not really for me." One said "when are we getting robots that do more than move paper around?" All honest. All different. All from people running real print operations with real pressures.
Most members are watching and waiting. Cost is the main reason. The ROI question is unresolved, and the market still lacks flexible, general-purpose systems that work across different tasks. What exists today is mostly good at moving things: paper, pallets, finished goods between stations. Finishing and bindery are the areas members most want to automate. They are also the areas where affordable, adaptable solutions are hardest to find.
A smaller group has already started. Some bought their first autonomous mobile robot knowing the financial case was not yet proven. They did it to learn, to build familiarity with the technology, to see what was possible. One told us that once the first system was in and running, the conversation spread to every level of the business.
Even those who invested are candid. Most implementations take time and money, and full payback is not guaranteed. One member said the best use cases are the ones peers share openly, because vendor claims alone do not give you the full picture.
That is the honest state of print robotics in 2026. Curious, early, moving. It is also exactly the moment when peer knowledge matters most. Published benchmarks do not exist yet. Industry-wide ROI data is thin. What does exist are operators who have made real decisions and are willing to share what happened, what worked, and what they would do differently.
On May 29, Dscoop hosts a live webinar built around the question your peers are already asking: where does robotics as a service make business sense in a print operation today? The session goes into the business model, the real costs, and how members are approaching the investment without overcommitting. If you want to see it in person, the Robotics Pavilion at Edge Slovenia in Ljubljana, June 10 to 12, puts the technology on the floor with direct access to the people making it work. Will you join us in Ljubljana? 
