[TickleSteve]

The correct phrase is "mechanical sympathy" but it means effectively the same. Its relatively well known in software optimisation and means tailoring the design of the software to match the characteristics of the hardware.

[fragmede]

Sympathy involves understanding someone’s feelings from your own perspective and feeling sorry for their situation. Empathy means putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, imagining their feelings and experiencing their emotions as if they were your own.

Based on those definitions, mechanical empathy seems more correct. It describes the ability to understand and intuitively sense how machines or mechanical systems work, almost like understanding.