Every humanoid joint needs a force-torque sensor.
Chinese suppliers like BTQ and Hetai are scaling but Western OEMs still qualify
$VPG, ATI, and a handful of EU names for production builds where geopolitical risk audit chains matter.
$VPG makes the foil strain gauges that go inside those sensors.
China installed 295,000 industrial robots in 2024 per IFR, more than half the planet.
The US installed 34,200.
Foxconn has run automation pilots inside its Kunshan plant for several years.
Xiaomi runs near-lights-out lines in Changping.
The robots are commoditizing, the parts behind them are not.
The lead pick on the parts side is
$VPG, with
$OUST in the basket as the depth-perception sidecar.
$VPG is the anchor.
Forward earnings × 25-30x = 3-4x over 3-5 years if Western OEMs lean into supplier qualification away from Chinese vendors.
Robotics Picks & Shovels is on this week's The Bottleneck Index.