[leoedin]

I think the other comment pretty much captured it. If you don't make a complete plug and play package, your robotics are just going to be part of a bigger solution developed by another business. The nature of putting together a complete process automation solution is that it's a highly technical job which takes a lot of time. Your customers are not the people working around the robot - they are the automation designer / integrator who is building the solution - and they are far less bothered about swish UIs and safety features than they are about good APIs, physical repeatability, good hardware availability - all the things OEMs care about when selecting a component in their system.

We found a lot of the time people "wanted" a robot arm, but then when they got it they sat it on a shelf - because the work required to turn a robot arm into a useful automated process is massive. Having a cheaper or easier to use robot arm doesn't stop you needing fixtures, jigs, conveyor belts etc.