Requirements, Concept Selection & Early Economics

Requirements translate observed needs into evidence. NIST’s robotics work emphasizes expressing end-user performance needs and verifying systems against them ¹.

Write solution-neutral requirements

Cover good throughput, part family and variation, first-pass quality, changeover, uptime, recovery, ergonomics, exposure reduction, utilities, floor space, noise, cleanliness, traceability, cybersecurity, maintainability, training, lifecycle, and decommissioning.

Use “shall + measurable verb + threshold + condition.” Keep assumptions beside requirements. Define acceptance method now: inspection, analysis, demonstration, or test.

Compare architectures, not brands

Include at least:

• current-state improvement without automation;
• dedicated hard automation;
• flexible robot or cobot cell;
• operator-assist fixture or powered tool;
• phased sensing/data-first approach.

Score with explicit weights for safety risk reduction, technical feasibility, flexibility, quality, throughput, lifecycle cost, maintainability, skill fit, deployment interruption, and reversibility. Run a sensitivity analysis: if a small weight change flips the winner, the decision is fragile.

Early economic screen

Annual net benefit may include labor capacity redeployed, avoided injuries or exposure, quality yield, throughput contribution, reduced material and utilities, and avoided downtime—minus maintenance, consumables, energy, software, support, training, and added technical labor.

Simple payback is investment divided by annual net benefit. Net present value is

Use ranges for uptime, ramp, volume, scrap, and maintenance. Do not count every hour “saved” as cash unless staffing, overtime, capacity, or redeployment actually changes.

Stage uncertainty

Run a feasibility gate before full appropriation: representative parts, cycle study, sensing trial, payload/reach screen, safety concept, maintenance review, and worker walkthrough. Buy information while design change is cheap.

Concept review

Produce requirements and a weighted concept matrix for one task. Include a downside case at half the expected volume and twice the recovery time. State which evidence would kill the favored concept before purchase.