Return on investment (ROI)

A measure of the financial benefit of an automation project relative to its cost, expressed as the net gain divided by the total investment. For robotics, the benefit side typically includes labor reallocation, quality improvements, scrap reduction, and added capacity, while the cost side should reflect total cost of ownership rather than purchase price alone. ROI figures in vendor proposals are only as sound as their assumptions, so buyers should validate inputs such as utilization, staffing impact, and integration cost against their own operation.