whirrwork

Robot Price Index · Edition 2

2 prices moved this week. The biggest: Stockpile volume measurement, +75.9%

Week 44 of 2026 (26 Oct–1 Nov 2026, UTC). Every number below comes from Whirrwork's append-only price history: real published prices, each with a source link and a date. Benchmarks, not quotes. No forecasts.

Published Next edition: Receipts CSVJSONMethod

What moved

JobWasNowChange (midpoint)Receipt
Stockpile volume measurement
Drone stockpile measurement, straightforward single-pile site, from (Isle of Wight &…
from £199 / visitfrom £350 / visit▲ +75.9%media4you.co.uk · as of Oct 28, 2026
po_20261028_d1a293b7ee74
Aquaculture net cleaning & inspection
Deep Trekker DTG3 Base Package inspection ROV (75 m tether, reel, case), New Zealand…
NZ$23,443 / unitNZ$23,761 / unit▲ +1.4%oceanova.nz · as of Oct 28, 2026
po_20261028_8514ae9d5691

Corrections (not price moves)

  • Roof inspection by drone: we had recorded $80–$250 / hour; the source says $80–$250 / hour. Our mistake, fixed by appending po_20261028_45fc4a3f95b4 (supersedes po_20261025_dd6f26dd5b68). angi.com
  • Commercial floor scrubbing: we had recorded $2,250–$2,900 / month; the source says $2,250–$2,900 / month. Our mistake, fixed by appending po_20261028_b96be79efa73 (supersedes po_20261025_4165430ea9b2). mlive.com
  • Roof inspection by drone: we had recorded $120–$600 / inspection; the source says $120–$600 / inspection. Our mistake, fixed by appending po_20261028_ce65da6ab54c (supersedes po_20261025_393c9dd58661). angi.com

What we re-checked

  • Confirmed on the source page938
  • Changed (reviewed by hand)6
  • Partly found1
  • Needs a human look2
  • Number not found on page8
  • Source unreachable11

966 series re-checked (latest result per series this week). "Confirmed" means a script found the recorded number on the live source page. Anything else gets a human look; nothing is edited silently. Every re-check (CSV).

Category board

Medians only where 5+ receipts share a currency and unit

A median here is the middle of the receipts' midpoints ("from" prices count at their starting price). Currencies are never mixed or converted, and a median says nothing about any one supplier.

  1. Aerial & Drones117 receipts

    36 of 36 jobs priced

    • $360/ inspection · median of 7range $120–$3,000 across 3 jobs
    • $250/ search · median of 7range $200–$375 across 1 job
    • $100/ acre · median of 6range $10–$300 across 3 jobs
    97 receipts listed individually
  2. Cleaning & Facilities106 receipts

    19 of 19 jobs priced

    • $24,000/ unit · median of 36range $434–$95,880 across 8 jobs
    • $1,500/ month · median of 23range $369–$4,600 across 4 jobs
    • $0.23/ sq ft · median of 8range $0.12–$3.50 across 2 jobs
    • $60,684/ contract · median of 7range $34,620–$1.1M across 3 jobs
    • C$2,325/ month · median of 6range C$950–C$2,850 across 2 jobs
    26 receipts listed individually
  3. Events & Entertainment104 receipts

    18 of 18 jobs priced

    • £6,000/ show · median of 14range £1,500–£20,000 across 2 jobs
    • $58,400/ show · median of 13range $25,550–$250,000 across 2 jobs
    • €14,950/ show · median of 10range €4,000–€60,000 across 1 job
    • ₹1.4M/ show · median of 6range ₹800,000–₹3.2M across 1 job
    • $3,995/ event · median of 6range $1,800–$7,000 across 2 jobs
    • $1,875/ day · median of 5range $299–$4,990 across 2 jobs
    50 receipts listed individually
  4. Agriculture & Forestry87 receipts

    23 of 23 jobs priced

    • $7.50/ acre · median of 11range $1.60–$20 across 3 jobs
    • €208/ hectare · median of 6range €30–€3,500 across 3 jobs
    • 11,500 HUF/ hectare · median of 5range 8,000 HUF–30,000 HUF across 2 jobs
    65 receipts listed individually
  5. Public Safety & Defense73 receipts

    9 of 9 jobs priced

    • $276,840/ robot · median of 12range $18,794–$470,449 across 2 jobs
    • $273,994/ contract · median of 10range $26,608–$734,574 across 3 jobs
    • €244,418/ unit · median of 5range €211,980–€278,982 across 1 job
    46 receipts listed individually
  6. Home & Personal68 receipts

    19 of 19 jobs priced

    • $2,849/ unit · median of 33range $179–$38,000 across 18 jobs
    • $449/ month · median of 9range $49.99–$2,200 across 5 jobs
    26 receipts listed individually
  7. Construction & Building44 receipts

    22 of 23 jobs priced

    • CN¥20,983/ month · median of 6range CN¥17,346–CN¥24,573 across 4 jobs
    • $59,950/ unit · median of 5range $29,700–$455,500 across 3 jobs
    33 receipts listed individually
  8. Inspection & Asset Integrity43 receipts

    21 of 21 jobs priced

    • $237,218/ contract · median of 5range $47,641–$354,880 across 2 jobs
    38 receipts listed individually
  9. Research, Education & Telepresence40 receipts

    9 of 9 jobs priced

    • $4,900/ unit · median of 17range $1,399–$90,000 across 5 jobs
    • CN¥480,500/ unit · median of 6range CN¥39,999–CN¥899,000 across 1 job
    17 receipts listed individually
  10. Energy & Utilities38 receipts

    15 of 15 jobs priced

    No currency + unit has 5+ receipts yet, so no median. Receipts are listed instead.

    38 receipts listed individually
  11. Industrial & Manufacturing36 receipts

    21 of 22 jobs priced

    • $39,699/ unit · median of 9range $6,000–$51,699 across 4 jobs
    • CN¥1.7M/ contract · median of 7range CN¥218,800–CN¥7.4M across 7 jobs
    • $371,604/ contract · median of 7range $216,000–$1.7M across 5 jobs
    13 receipts listed individually
  12. Retail, Food & Hospitality36 receipts

    10 of 10 jobs priced

    • $16,250/ unit · median of 10range $14,500–$43,000 across 3 jobs
    • $519/ month · median of 7range $399–$4,000 across 4 jobs
    • $5,499/ robot · median of 5range $4,499–$14,000 across 2 jobs
    14 receipts listed individually
  13. Marine & Underwater35 receipts

    15 of 15 jobs priced

    • $3,599/ unit · median of 9range $849–$93,537 across 4 jobs
    • $3.8M/ contract · median of 5range $2.5M–$7.1M across 2 jobs
    21 receipts listed individually
  14. Logistics & Warehousing27 receipts

    14 of 14 jobs priced

    • CN¥4.8M/ contract · median of 5range CN¥189,000–CN¥9.3M across 5 jobs
    22 receipts listed individually
  15. Healthcare & Wellness26 receipts

    13 of 13 jobs priced

    • $38,125/ unit · median of 5range $5,000–$200,000 across 4 jobs
    21 receipts listed individually
  16. Environmental & Conservation22 receipts

    10 of 10 jobs priced

    No currency + unit has 5+ receipts yet, so no median. Receipts are listed instead.

    22 receipts listed individually
  17. Autonomous Vehicles & Mobility18 receipts

    8 of 8 jobs priced

    No currency + unit has 5+ receipts yet, so no median. Receipts are listed instead.

    18 receipts listed individually
  18. Security & Surveillance18 receipts

    11 of 11 jobs priced

    No currency + unit has 5+ receipts yet, so no median. Receipts are listed instead.

    18 receipts listed individually
  19. Delivery & Last Mile17 receipts

    8 of 8 jobs priced

    • $3.49/ delivery · median of 5range $2.99–$3.50 across 2 jobs
    12 receipts listed individually
  20. Mining & Tunneling10 receipts

    5 of 5 jobs priced

    No currency + unit has 5+ receipts yet, so no median. Receipts are listed instead.

    10 receipts listed individually

Where sources disagree most

  1. Reforestation & tree-planting drones70×

    3 receipts in EUR / hectare: lowest from €50 / hectare (mycelium-reforestation.com), highest from €3,500 / hectare (skyseed.eco).

  2. Research robot platforms49×

    6 receipts in USD / unit: lowest $1,850 / unit (roboticscenter.ai), highest $90,000 / unit (shop.unitree.com).

  3. Drone light show26×

    3 receipts in AUD / show: lowest from A$15,000 / show (droneskyshows.com.au), highest A$30,000–A$750,000 / show (flyingglass.com.au).

  4. Pipe relining & lateral reinstatement robots24×

    3 receipts in USD / lateral: lowest $25–$250 / lateral (hoffmanestates.org), highest $2,200–$4,362 / lateral (stpetersmo.net).

  5. Research robot platforms22×

    6 receipts in CNY / unit: lowest from CN¥39,999 / unit (finance.ce.cn), highest CN¥899,000 / unit (laowuzhaobiao.com).

Same job, same currency, same unit, at least 3 receipts from at least 2 different sites. The ratio is highest midpoint ÷ lowest midpoint. A wide spread usually means the "same" job hides very different scopes, so read the descriptions before you quote either number.

Newly priced, and still quote-only

117 jobs got a first price this week

Every category has at least one priced job, but 2 of 308 jobs are still quote-only. See where the receipts run out. Seen a public price for one of them? Send us the link.

Use it, cite it

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Every figure traces to observation ids in the receipts CSV (975 rows: each one with its source URL, as-of date and the figure it feeds, in the used_in column) and the re-checks CSV.

Whirrwork (2026). Robot Price Index, week 44 2026. https://whirrwork.com/insights/robot-price-index/2026-w44/. CC BY 4.0.

Corrections

Found a wrong number? Tell us with a link. We fix it by appending a correction, never by overwriting, and the next edition lists it. Past editions are never edited: they are computed from time-stamped, append-only records.

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