Robotics companies are developing new capabilities at a rapid pace, from autonomous mobile robots to humanoid systems. However, keeping up with technological advances is one part of the challenge. The most critical thing is to turn a successful prototype into a commercially viable product that can be manufactured and deployed at scale. 

“The biggest challenge I see robotics startups facing today is the speed at which the industry moves,” says Cameron Villone, Senior Product Technology Manager at Analog Devices Inc. (ADI). 

In most cases, a startup excels in adopting next-generation technologies in sensing, motion control, and AI, but commercialization requires additional expertise in electronics, system integration, validation, and manufacturing. These demands can often stretch the resources of smaller engineering teams. 

ADI is developing its Emerging Tech Hub within the Analog Garage to help robotics startups and established companies overcome these challenges. The Emerging Tech Hub is intended to give companies access to ADI engineers, prototyping and testing resources, and manufacturing and sourcing expertise as they prepare their designs for production. 

ADI was recently highlighted in The Race to Make AI Physical whitepaper explaining how physical AI brings together sensing, signal conversion, perception, reasoning, control, computing, and validation. These functions must work together for a robot to perform reliably. Even when a robot makes the right decision, executing that decision depends on accurate sensor data, timely control signals, and sufficient power to drive its actuators. 

These engineering requirements continue to change as the product progresses from prototype to production. For example, a prototype needs to demonstrate whether technology can work, but commercialization requires the complete system to perform consistently under different operating conditions.

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