Last year, one week apart, I wrote about the workforce, the importance of having Roberts in your business, and the use of AI in estimating.
AI plus Robert!? Sounds like robot.
In 2026, artificial intelligence applications are becoming increasingly tangible across industries. And when AI is combined with robotics, part of the painting process can now be automated. In fact, a few collision repair shops in Canada have made the leap this year.
Autosphere recently reported that Karim Zaidane, owner of Fix Auto Dorval, chose to integrate a painting robot into his shop. The benefits? More consistent application, lower paint consumption according to the manufacturer, and less time for the paint technician to spend in the booth exposed to these products. But the robot doesn’t do everything. The technician still prepares the paint mixture and tells the robot which areas to paint.
In this example, the robot expands what the employee can accomplish. It doesn’t replace them. When it comes to speed, the team can’t yet confirm that it outperforms an experienced paint technician. Robert is still essential, but he now has a new colleague to guide.
We also need to consider what this means for the rest of the shop. This was one of the observations we made back when we used to say, “drain your shop by the paint booth”: the paint booth is at the heart of shop productivity, and its capacity sets the pace for the entire operation.
If robotics allows more work to move through the booth, will your disassembly, prep, and reassembly teams be able to keep up? Balancing your shop’s capacity can become a challenge. The goal is not to simply move the bottleneck from one stage to another. So, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows yet. But it’s already here. And I have a feeling this transformation could happen faster than the adoption of certifications did.
For years, people talked about certifications without every shop feeling a sense of urgency. Then we turned the page, and certifications became the big thing.
Robotics deserves closer attention, especially if you operate a larger shop. Artificial intelligence is advancing ridiculously fast, and robotics is benefiting from those advances too. I think that, in a few years, we will be surprised by just how widespread these systems have become.
That doesn’t mean you need to buy a robot tomorrow morning. But it’s worth understanding what one could bring to your shop and what you’d need to adjust around it to take full advantage.
If you want to manage your shop’s capacity more effectively, I obviously recommend ProgiPlanning. Although it is still a relatively new system, we’re already working to make it even better. Stay tuned! We’ll have more news on that front in 2027.
Your shop is evolving. Your planning needs to keep pace. To manage your capacity more effectively with ProgiPlanning, contact us!
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Written by: Alexandre Rocheleau
Reviewed and translated by: Krystel Henley-Rocheleau