Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Catherine Buffington is an economist whose research sits at the intersection of technology adoption, automation, and firm dynamics in the United States. Working closely with U.S. Census Bureau datasets—particularly the Annual Business Survey and the Annual Survey of Manufactures—she has made significant contributions to our empirical understanding of how American firms adopt and deploy advanced technologies, including robotics and automation systems. Her most-cited work, "Automation and the Workforce: A Firm-Level View from the 2019 Annual Business Survey" (2022, 61 citations), offers a rare establishment-level perspective on how automation reshapes employment. Complementing this, her research on advanced technology adoption (48 citations) demonstrates that larger, faster-growing firms tend to lead in technology uptake—raising important questions about whether technology drives firm growth or merely follows it. Buffington has also pioneered the study of geographic inequality in robotics investment, coining the concept of "Robot Hubs" to describe the highly skewed spatial distribution of industrial robots across U.S. manufacturing. Notably, she contributed to the foundational development of survey methodology for measuring robotics expenditures at Census—work that enabled the field's subsequent empirical advances. Her portfolio reflects both rigorous data infrastructure work and high-impact applied research.