Technology Strategy in the Robotics Industry

本研究涉及仿人机械手领域的技术战略。技术战略中最重要的主题之一是主导设计。主导设计是由市场最终选择的由相互连接的组件组成的单一产品体系结构的特征。由于大多数技术战略研究都是回溯性的，我们对主导的设计选择过程知之甚少。为了更好地理解这一过程，我们需要研究候选技术之间的竞争。机械手是这类研究的优秀技术，原因有三：1)它是一项重要的技术；2)有几种明确的技术替代方案，有一天可能成为主导设计；3)这些技术替代方案有很好的文档记录。

This research involves technology stragegy in the field of humanoid robot hands. One of the most important themes in technology strategy is dominant design. Dominant design characterizes a single product architecture consisting of interconnected components that is ultimately selected by the marketplace. Since most technology strategy research is retrospective we know little about the dominant design selection Process. To better understand this process, we would need to study competition between candidate technologies. The robot hand is an excellent technology for this type of research for three reasons : 1) It is an important technology ; 2) There are several clear technological alternatives for what will one day likely become the dominant design ; 3) These tecnological alternatives are well documented.