CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014
Revenue
Products	$ 421,783	$ 457,411	$ 387,032
Services	138,540	95,297	95,816
Total revenue	560,323	552,708	482,848
Cost of revenue
Product	267,974	298,348	250,268
Services	94,268	65,255	65,243
Total cost of revenue	362,242	363,603	315,511
Gross profit	198,081	189,105	167,337
Operating expenses
Research and development	51,543	52,232	52,649
Selling, general and administrative	130,261	115,270	111,098
Restructuring and other charges	12,039	4,713	6,289
Total operating expenses	193,843	172,215	170,036
Operating income (loss)	4,238	16,890	(2,699)
Interest income	452	899	950
Interest expense	(157)	(395)	(202)
Other (expense) income, net	(579)	421	256
Income (loss) before income taxes and earnings (losses) of equity method investments	3,954	17,815	(1,695)
Income tax provision (benefit)	75,810	3,430	(1,980)
(Loss) income before earnings (losses) of equity method investments	(71,856)	14,385	285
Equity in earnings (losses) of equity method investments	2,380	(164)	1,235
(Loss) income from continuing operations	(69,476)	14,221	1,520
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax	0	0	30,002
Net (loss) income	(69,476)	14,221	31,522
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0	(161)
Net (loss) income attributable to Brooks Automation, Inc.	$ (69,476)	$ 14,221	$ 31,361
Basic net (loss) income per share attributable to Brooks Automation, Inc. common stockholders:
(Loss) income from continuing operations (USD per share)	$ (1.01)	$ 0.21	$ 0.02
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax (USD per share)	0.00	0.00	0.45
Basic net (loss) income per share attributable to Brooks Automation, Inc. (USD per share)	(1.01)	0.21	0.47
Earnings Per Share, Diluted [Abstract]
(Loss) income from continuing operations (USD per share)	(1.01)	0.21	0.02
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax (USD per share)	0.00	0.00	0.44
Diluted net (loss) income per share attributable to Brooks Automation, Inc. common stockholders (USD per share)	(1.01)	0.21	0.46
Dividend declared per share (USD per share)	$ 0.40	$ 0.40	$ 0.34
Weighted-average shares used in computing earnings (loss) per share:
Basic (shares)	68,507	67,411	66,648
Diluted (shares)	68,507	68,549	67,644