Opinion: build robots around the workflow, argues VPG engineer

Ron Zukerman, innovation director at Vishay Precision Group, argues that useful industrial robots should be designed backwards from the task rather than around a preferred humanoid form. Precise connector insertion and heavy pallet handling demand different force resolution, payload capacity and durability; a compromise sensor stack can fail both workflows. His opinion distinguishes new facilities that can be built around specialised machines from existing sites designed for people, where humanoid or human-compatible hardware may avoid expensive rebuilding. He argues that strain sensing belongs in the architecture, with mechanical drift, wear and recalibration treated as deployment problems rather than hidden behind an autonomy demo. The proposed commercial tests are mean time between human interventions, cost per unit of work, redeployment time and safety incidents. This is an engineering argument from a sensing vendor, not a new robot launch or independently established industry-wide result. Numerical savings examples in the source are the author's own claims. The accompanying industrial-arm image illustrates the workflow argument and is not a newly announced VPG robot.

DTT summary based on The Robot Report's report. The full article is on the publisher's site.