Robots, factory automation and driverless vehicles: the machines AI puts to work in plants, warehouses and on roads.
Physical AI layer is one of 22 market stories StoryVector measures. 53 US ETFs carry it, with $18 billion between them; the largest holder, BOTZ, holds 28.7% of its capital. This week it ranks 14th of 22 for attention, in the WARM band. Over the past year its ETFs returned +22.5%, against +16.8% for broad US ETFs, to October 2, 2026; past performance, not a recommendation.
Its level among all 22 on the fixed 25 to 60 scale. The band is where the level sits this week, not a direction.
Its ETFs ranked among the narratives, lowest to highest. The white notch is this one; the thin tick is where broad US ETFs would sit. Measured and past, not a forecast.
What the story is about, where its attention comes from, what sets it off, and what it shares ETFs with. This week it was measured on 5 of the six channels, and the channel chart is drawn only when all six report.
Robots are moving from labs into factories, warehouses and roads. Is that happening at scale now, or is it still a demo?
Industrial robots, warehouse systems and driverless vehicles are being installed and paid for. Humanoids are the next product on the same line.
Outside factory automation, most of the attention is on demos, forecasts and prototypes. Revenue is years out, and much of the story rests on one carmaker.
What would separate them. What gets bought. Orders and installations fit the first reading. Demos, unit forecasts and prototypes fit the second.
The largest ETF here is a 2x product on Tesla, bigger than any robotics ETF. We measure the attention and the capital, not how many robots get built.
53 ETFs carry this narrative; 39 have it as their main one. Here is how its capital divides among them.
The asset-weighted return of the unlevered ETFs that carry this narrative, against broad US ETFs. Measured and past, not a forecast.
| 1M | 3M | YTD | 1Y | 3Y* | 5Y* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physical AI layerits ETFs, unlevered | +4.6% | +1.2% | +21.1% | +22.5% | +23.5% | +6.6% |
| rank among the narratives | 8th of 22 | 11th of 22 | 5th of 22 | 4th of 21 | 9th of 21 | 16th of 21 |
| The marketbroad US ETFs | +0.8% | +2.6% | +14.6% | +16.8% | +22.9% | +12.9% |
1M, 3M, 1Y, 3Y, 5Y: one month to five years. YTD: year to date. * A year, annualized. Rank is among the narratives with a full record for the period. A dash means the narrative’s ETFs do not cover the whole period.
Total return on the market price, each distribution reinvested on its ex-date. The narrative is the asset-weighted return of the unlevered ETFs that carry it; the market is the asset-weighted return of broad US index ETFs. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
5 categories, each claimed by a written rule. The bar is each one’s share of the capital. The table names what decides each.
| Category | ETFs | Capital | Share of the ETFs | Share of the capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robotics and AIWhat factories and warehouses spend on automation, and the rate used to value profits years away | 10 | $12.4 bn | 26% | 69.0% |
| Levered and inverse wrappersThe day-to-day path of Tesla's share price and of a robotics index, which a daily reset compounds | 15 | $4.2 bn | 38% | 23.7% |
| Autonomous and electric vehiclesElectric and autonomous vehicle sales, and approvals for driverless service | 6 | $0.7 bn | 15% | 4.1% |
| Humanoid robotsProgress from prototype to paid deployment of humanoid robots | 4 | $0.5 bn | 10% | 2.8% |
| Everything else | 4 | $0.1 bn | 10% | 0.4% |
The widest gap: levered and inverse wrappers, 38% of the ETFs and 23.7% of the capital.
What issuers have listed with this as the main narrative, by wrapper.
What issuers have listed, not what anyone expects. A wrapper can be listed before anyone wants it, so a count of ETFs and a share of capital answer different questions.
53 US ETFs carry it. The largest holders of its capital are BOTZ (28.7%), ARTY (25.4%) and ROBO (17.4%).
BOTZ, with 28.7% of the capital in ETFs carrying the story; the top five hold 87.6%.
Its attention level is 48.1 on a scale of 25 to 60, 14th of 22 this week, in the WARM band. The level averages six channels: search, video, news, forums, investor boards and reference pages.
Asset weighted, its ETFs returned +22.5% over the past year, against +16.8% for broad US ETFs, to October 2, 2026. Past performance only.
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