CULVER CITY, CA—Earlier this month, robotics firm OnRobot opened its first U.S. office dedicated specifically to research and development of its collaborative robot end-of-arm tooling.

WASHINGTON—The United States remains the global leader in supporting science and technology research and development, but only by a slim margin that could soon be overtaken by rapidly increasing Asian investments in knowledge-intensive economies. So suggests a new report by the National Science Board.