CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013
Revenue
Product	$ 457,411	$ 387,032	$ 335,011
Services	95,297	95,816	87,429
Total revenue	552,708	482,848	422,440
Cost of revenue
Product	307,865	252,688	229,411
Services	55,738	62,823	60,722
Total cost of revenue	363,603	315,511	290,133
Gross profit	189,105	167,337	132,307
Operating expenses
Research and development	52,232	52,649	46,209
Selling, general and administrative	115,270	111,098	96,516
Restructuring and other charges	4,713	6,289	6,380
Total operating expenses	172,215	170,036	149,105
Operating income (loss)	16,890	(2,699)	(16,798)
Interest income	899	950	1,032
Interest expense	(395)	(202)	(2)
Other income, net	421	256	1,227
Income (loss) before income taxes and earnings (losses) of equity method investments	17,815	(1,695)	(14,541)
Income tax provision (benefit)	3,430	(1,980)	(4,985)
Income (loss) before earnings (losses) of equity method investments	14,385	285	(9,556)
Equity in (losses) earnings of equity method investments	(164)	1,235	2,442
Income (loss) from continuing operations	14,221	1,520	(7,114)
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax	0	30,002	4,964
Net income (loss)	14,221	31,522	(2,150)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	(161)	(65)
Net income (loss) attributable to Brooks Automation, Inc.	$ 14,221	$ 31,361	$ (2,215)
Basic net income (loss) per share attributable to Brooks Automation, Inc. common stockholders:
Income (loss) from continuing operations (USD per share)	$ 0.21	$ 0.02	$ (0.11)
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax (USD per share)	0.00	0.45	0.08
Basic net income (loss) per share attributable to Brooks Automation, Inc. (USD per share)	0.21	0.47	(0.03)
Earnings Per Share, Diluted [Abstract]
Income (loss) from continuing operations (USD per share)	0.21	0.02	(0.11)
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax (USD per share)	0.00	0.44	0.08
Diluted net income (loss) per share attributable to Brooks Automation, Inc. common stockholders (USD per share)	0.21	0.46	(0.03)
Dividend declared per share (USD per share)	$ 0.40	$ 0.34	$ 0.32
Weighted-average shares used in computing earnings (loss) per share:
Basic (shares)	67,411	66,648	65,912
Diluted (shares)	68,549	67,644	65,912