At embedded world 2026 on the DigiKey booth, Paige Hookway speaks with Rajan Sharma, Strategic Marketing for Robotics at Analog Devices about the company’s approach to robotics innovation after 60 years of engineering development.
The conversation reflects on the company’s 60 years of engineering development and how its approach to innovation has evolved during that time. Historically, the organisation has been known for delivering high-precision semiconductor technologies, ranging from monolithic integrated circuits to discrete components. Those products have formed the building blocks of many electronic systems across industries including industrial automation, automotive, and healthcare.
However, as robotics systems have become more complex, customer expectations have shifted. Engineers are increasingly looking for solutions that integrate multiple technologies and reduce the time required to design and deploy complete robotic systems. In response to this shift, Analog Devices has been expanding its focus towards more system-level offerings, combining hardware, connectivity, and sensing technologies into integrated solutions that can be incorporated more easily into customer designs.
This shift reflects a broader change in robotics engineering. Rather than focusing solely on individual signal chains, developers are now designing complete robotic systems that must integrate perception, motion control, communication, and decision-making capabilities. Sharma explains that solving these challenges requires a deeper understanding of system-level problems rather than only component-level performance.
To support this transition, the company has also invested in its research and development capabilities. Sharma explains that modernising development, testing, and manufacturing processes has been an important part of adapting to the evolving robotics market. The company has also expanded its technical capabilities through acquisitions in recent years, bringing additional expertise that supports more complex system design.
Experience across multiple industries also plays an important role in the company’s robotics work. Technologies originally developed for other sectors are often adapted for robotics applications. Sharma highlights power management as one example, where battery management systems designed for automotive platforms can also support mobile robotic systems.
Software is also becoming an increasingly important part of robotics development. Sharma explains that the company is focusing on software-centric hardware strategies, where hardware platforms are designed to integrate more closely with software tools and algorithms. Platforms such as its development environments allow engineers to evaluate hardware alongside software in real time, helping accelerate system integration and testing.
As robotics continues to evolve, Sharma points to the convergence of sensing, connectivity, and AI as a key opportunity for the sector. The combination of these technologies is expected to enable more capable and intelligent robotic systems across industrial automation and other industries.
Watch the full video below.
