Investing.com - With South Korea's LG Electronics set to unveil three new robot types at the CES electronics show in Las Vegas next week, investors may be curious about how to capitalize on the emerging technology.
Two major investment vehicles focusing on robotics, automation and artificial intelligence stand out. Both are exchanged traded funds, or ETFs.
The larger of the two is the Global Robotics & Automation Index ETF, whose stock ticker is ROBO. The other, also sometimes referred to by its catchy ticker, BOTZ, is the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF.
Both BOTZ and ROBO rose sharply in 2017, more than doubling the 20% gain of the benchmark S&P 500.
ROBO owns shares in 88 different companies, while BOTZ has 28 holdings in its portfolio. Familiar names include iRobot, Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK), Nvidia and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG). Many of the companies are not based in the U.S. Japan, for one, is well represented.
Given their focus, the ETFs are relatively small by industry standards. ROBO has about $2 billion in assets under management, while BOTZ is closer to $1.5 billion.
Though new and small, they are growing quickly. Investor inflows surged in 2017.