Metropolitan Toledo has the highest concentration of industrial robots relative to its work force of anywhere in the country, a good-news, bad-news finding that points to the region’s strong embrace of advanced manufacturing, but also a potential sign that human labor is being replaced by machines.

As part of an upcoming report on disruptive effects of automation, the Brookings Institution set out to pinpoint where the nation’s robotic footholds have been gained.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, researchers found they’re clustered in the traditional manufacturing hub of the Midwest and in the South — areas with the highest concentration of automotive production.

Toledo led the way, with nine robots for every 1,000 workers.

Metropolitan Detroit was close behind with 8.5 robots for every 1,000 workers, followed by Grand Rapids, Mich.

“The robot map is essentially the map of U.S. manufacturing at this point, and it’s especially a map of U.S. auto manufacturing,” said Mark Muro, a senior fellow and the director of policy at the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.

For the purpose of this research, Brookings defines industrial robots as “automatically controlled, reprogrammable machines capable of replacing labor in a range of tasks.”

Brookings said metro Toledo had 2,374 industrial robots in 2015, up more than threefold from 2010.

Mr. Muro, who led the research, said more than half of the nation’s 233,305 industrial robots are mechanically toiling away in the automotive sector.

Other sectors that are big users of industrial robots include the chemical industry, rubber, food, semiconductors, and consumer electronics.

“There’s a lot of discussion about what this does to the labor market over time. This is not a new development,” Mr. Muro said. “Over time, it likely depresses the number of workers needed, in especially the most repetitive, routine portions of your manufacturing base. It’s likely created some jobs, however. And meanwhile, it’s allowed your plants to remain. The alternative in many cases is offshoring.”

The jobs that are created, though, are different, and are not likely to be filled by the same workers who have been displaced by automation.

“It will clearly have a bit more of a software and coding element, but it’s a not insignificant set of jobs and clearly there will be more installations going forward as the first generation of robots is replaced by new ones,” Mr. Muro said.

But more robots doesn’t always come at the cost of more jobs.

Over the period that Brookings looked at for its report, which followed the Great Recession, employment in the manufacturing sector locally increased from 35,500 to 43,800, according to figures from the state.

Manufacturing employment also rebounded slightly in 2016 to 44,700.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, as well, is investing $700 million into its Toledo Assembly Complex to prepare to shift part of the plant’s production from now-gone Jeep Cherokee to the new Jeep Wrangler. While they’re adding 269 new robots in the plant’s body shop, they’re also hiring 700 more employees.

Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at tlinkhorn@theblade.com, 419-724-6134 or on Twitter @BladeAutoWriter.

First Published August 29, 2017, 5:34 a.m.