“The more we can do with it, then the more likely the humanoids are going to take off and be adopted.”

Connectors rarely get top billing. Nobody designs a device around a connector — yet these humble components increasingly determine whether a smart factory, an edge deployment, or a humanoid robot works. As manufacturers push more data, more power, and more intelligence through the same shrinking footprint, the demands on interconnect technology are evolving as fast as the systems they serve.

For this episode of Manufacturing Matters, TECH B2B Marketing’s Aaron Hand sits down with Ed Garstkiewicz, HARTING’s Senior Business Development Manager for Emerging Markets, at Automate 2026 in Chicago to talk about the fast-changing world of industrial connectivity. They dig into smart connectors that add sensors, status indicators, and intelligence right at the connection point; the constant balancing act between miniaturization and ruggedization; and why connectors may be one of the keys to making humanoid robots lighter, more efficient, and easier to repair.

“A humanoid robot is the perfect example for the need for smart connectivity,” Garstikiewicz notes. “The wiring and connectors make up 5 to 10% of the weight of a humanoid. So if we can add functionality to the connector and reduce the need for other systems, we’re lowering the weight and improving the efficiency of the humanoid robot.” This could be a deciding factor in how quickly humanoids get adopted.

If you’ve never given much thought to what’s at the end of the cable, this conversation makes the case that the connector is quietly becoming one of the smartest components on the factory floor.

Aaron Hand: [00:00:00] Hello, welcome to this episode of “Manufacturing Matters,” where we talk about the technologies and trends shaping the global manufacturing industry. I’m Aaron Hand with TECH B2B Marketing, here today at Automate with Ed Garstkiewicz from the HARTING Technology Group. Welcome, Ed.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:00:15] Hi, Aaron. Thank you. Great to be here.

Aaron Hand: [00:00:17] So, Ed, just to start us off, just give us a rundown of what HARTING does and what your role is there.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:00:25] Okay, great. So HARTING is an interconnect manufacturer. Connector manufacturer. We are an 80-year-old —— 80-plus now —— privately held company headquartered in Germany. We have 42 subsidiaries around the world and 14 different manufacturing locations. Really, our focus is on connectors —— interconnect solutions that solve problems for people —— that are rugged and reliable. My role with the company: I am a senior business development manager for emerging markets. So my focus is on industry. Our core industries, as you can imagine, being a German-based manufacturer for industrial products, tends to be manufacturing, industrial. We do a lot in rail, but certainly we are looking at other newer markets in emerging spaces such as robotics and a few others. So, that’s my role. To focus and kind of bridge the gap, understand where our product fits within these markets and then where we need to go, what products need to be developed to continue to support our customers.

Aaron Hand: [00:01:35] Okay, great. You know, I think you said to me at one point, “nobody designs a device around a connector.”

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:01:44] That’s right.

Aaron Hand: [00:01:44] So I feel like that puts a lot of pressure on you then, as a connector developer, to design around what’s already there or designed for various environments. So talk a bit about that, about what kind of constraints that puts on you guys as developers.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:02:01] Sure. And it would be really cool if people actually did design their products around them, at least for us! But really, as a connector manufacturer, we need to understand the industry that we’re selling into: What are their pain points, what are their challenges? And kind of think of ahead of the things that they’re going to want to address, whether it’s a harsher environment, whether it’s high shock and vibration? Where is the product going to be used that will benefit their application? And really, I think that’s one of the reasons there are so many different SKUs of connectors, because there are so many different problems to solve. So we do our best to anticipate where those problems will be.

Aaron Hand: [00:02:48] Okay. So, think about a lot of the buzzwords in the industry. You don’t think about connectors first, but that doesn’t mean that connectors aren’t instrumental in a lot of those developments. So thinking about industry 4.0 —— edge computing,  artificial intelligence, and data growth that the industry has seen —— can you talk a bit about the role that connectors play in a lot of these areas?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:03:22] You mentioned the key word: data. So everything that we’re doing —— AI, smart manufacturing, predictive maintenance —— all those things require information. They require data to make decisions. And connectors need to be able to support that. A lot of times these decisions need to be made very quickly in real time, literally, so that means more signal, higher bandwidth, there’s more information. So that’s one of the challenges that the connector has to address. The other is, generally speaking, the manufacturing floor footprint doesn’t change, but we’re requiring more information, more data. That means more sensors, more devices to maybe process that data. But we can’t grow our manufacturing floor exponentially. So connectors have to find a way to process that information, but work within the given footprint on the floor, for the devices, for the equipment.

Aaron Hand: [00:04:26] Okay. So you’re trying to send more data, more power, more … I’m not sure what else through that connector, but the connectors can’t just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:04:39] Correct.

Aaron Hand: [00:04:40] Is that is that the crux of the footprint issue?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:04:43] That is one of the cruxes of the issue. Also, not only can they not get bigger, but the connector is getting closer and closer to the edge. So the more information that we want to acquire, the more sensors, the more, yeah, the more data … I guess it comes back down again to data. But a connector may be used when before it was in a control panel or a cabinet or, you know, a more or less benign environment. But now we want to have connections right at that point of the motor. And we want to have sensors right there, and we want to understand that. So now we’re introducing more shock vibration, maybe temperature cycling, maybe we’re doing something that’s … You know, automation now is moving off the manufacturing floor and into other spaces like construction or agriculture. So the connector needs to survive in those areas as well. So really a lot of things to consider.

Aaron Hand: [00:05:48] I guess just thinking there a bit about construction or agriculture, it seems like everything would be multiplied in terms of vibration issues, harsh environments. Can you talk about some of the things you’re doing with the technology in order to survive those types of environments?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:06:12] Yeah, that’s a great question. We are finding different ways or we’re developing different ways to help the connector survive. For example, on a printed circuit board connector, maybe we want … We have surface mount connections, so we’re not going through holes. We can have fixing or latching mechanisms to kind of keep the connector in place on the printed circuit board so it can withstand some of that shock and vibration. We’re doing a lot with internal latching —— and not just to withstand the environment, but also one of the benefits of connectivity and using connectors is the quick disconnect. So if there is a problem, then we don’t want to have, you know, hours, days of downtime to replace or rewire or do that. So we work on methods where the connector is really easy to install and really easy to replace when there is a problem in the field.

Aaron Hand: [00:07:16] Okay. So you want it to stay when you want it to stay.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:07:21] Yes!

Aaron Hand: [00:07:21] Regardless of whether it’s, you know, on a vehicle that’s rolling along bumpy terrain, you want to be able to disconnect it quickly still.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:07:31] Yes.

Aaron Hand: [00:07:32] So that takes some ingenuity there to come up with the right types of latches —— or I’m not sure what would be used there.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:07:40] Yeah, it takes quite a bit. So, yeah, the right type of latching —— and there are different ways to do it. You can do it with kind of the traditional circular bayonet-style latching. I mentioned the internal latching, with like a push-pull connector. And then what that means is, instead of having an external latch where you have to crank it down and you maybe need that hand strength, you’ve got a latch basically inside of the hood, the housing that protects the electrical portion of the connector. And so then you just plug it in and maybe you hear a little audible click or some indication that the connector’s latched and it’s done. You know it worked, you know it’s latched, you know that that connection is going to be reliable. So it’s really a balancing act because you want … We talk about some of the trends for size and space. And we want our connectors to be smaller, but we want them to be more rugged or rugged in applications maybe that they weren’t originally designed for. So you really have to find a way to balance all of those elements.

Aaron Hand: [00:08:55] I’m just thinking about all the various things that you’ve got to do, and you come in way too often after the fact to make all of this work together. Do you have customers who recognize that, at this point, it might be a good idea for them to bring you in sooner in these designs?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:09:15] We do. And in a way that is how our business has evolved. We prefer to partner up front with a customer or someone designing a product. And we do that a lot more. So rather than just be, let’s say, just a supplier where they’re picking a part from a digital catalog, we want to be a partner up front and help to design a solution that will facilitate what they need to accomplish in their design. So I think that’s really been a big push. And that’s helped us to grow and to be more successful overall.

Aaron Hand: [00:09:57] So I would like to get kind of back into you had mentioned the increasing number of sensors. And not just the number, the density of them, too. I feel like there are different ways to come at this miniaturization question: It’s not just that the connectors need to be smaller. With everything closer together, too, I would think you’d maybe have an issue with data integrity?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:10:39] Right.

Aaron Hand: [00:10:40] Noise or crosstalk, whatever there might be. So can you talk a bit about what those technical trade-offs are that you guys have to deal with to make miniaturization work?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:10:55] That’s a great question. And you’re absolutely right. As we’re making things smaller, we have the risk of interference and signal integrity. We’re also talking about higher data rates, higher bandwidth. So that’s a challenge. And we can address that in some really creative ways in terms of connector design, potentially using even generative AI to consider and look at some of those challenges. But we’ve got some really great signal integrity engineers who consider those kind of things. But also in terms of shielding, in terms of … As things get smaller, we have an issue with handling the increase in temperature. So thermal management. So that’s another area that we really have folks thinking about. Another way that you can miniaturize without necessarily making the connector itself smaller is by using a hybrid solution. So, typically, you may have an individual connector for control signal, for power, for pneumatics, for fiber optics, what have you. So you’ve got multiple different connection points, multiple different cable assemblies. So that’s going to contribute to the size and overall footprint on the design. So maybe we look at a hybrid solution, something where we’re combining several of those modalities into one connector. That’s been an area of focus of ours for a long time. Because that gives you the advantage of … You’ve got the density advantage, you’ve got less weight, less cabling. We think about sustainability and some of those things, less material. So those are areas that we’re also focusing on very heavily in our design process. You still have to be cognizant of, even in a hybrid connector, you could have interference between the connections. So we are definitely aware of that.

Aaron Hand: [00:13:11] Okay. I just wonder then: There’s usually a trade off. Okay, we can put these various functionalities in one connector, but is there something that you’re giving up in order to be able to do that? Or is there any risk?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:13:29] Yeah, certainly there’s some risk. And we talked a little bit about the impact of the different kind of modalities inside one connection point. If there is a failure in one cable, say, in your power cable, if you’re doing a hybrid system, then you’ve got to replace the power and the signal and everything else within that hybrid connector. So then it comes to thinking about, “how can we make this happen easily? How can we make this easy for the user? Are there options so that we can do it all in the field?” So when there is a problem, rather than having to have an electrician come and unwire and rewire a solution, maybe something’s easy enough where this can rapidly be done in the field without having to involve other personnel. So yeah, it’s a constant push-pull in terms of trade offs. But we’ve got years, decades of experience in working in this area. So I feel very confident that, you know, pulling in our experience and our expertise in working with the customers, we typically do a pretty good job of finding a solution.

Aaron Hand: [00:14:55] So getting back to the ruggedization question. When I think of a rugged, whatever it is, whatever device or product, I think big, heavy stuff. But I’m assuming you still need to combine rugged with miniature in a lot of cases, too. And you talked about the connection of the connector, whether it’s latches or whatever. There’s that aspect. But are there other things that you’re doing to say, “this is rugged, but that doesn’t mean it’s this big bulky thing”?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:15:36] Yeah, that tends to be another challenge. You know, it’d be much easier to throw a very large, safe package around this small connection point and make it super-rugged and environmentally protected. But then that doesn’t work in terms of real world applications. So I think a good example of making something not bigger, but still more rugged would be if we look at the RJ45 connector. This is a connector that’s used very heavily in industry, but was designed for office-type applications. So it was not designed to be rugged. So, initially things that we did were to put better packaging around the standard RJ45. You know, you put a protective shell around it, maybe to make it IP-rated so that you can use it in a harsher environment, or that so it’s better in terms of shock and vibration. So that’s one way to do it. And we certainly have many solutions going from that aspect. But another way, and this is something that we tend to do, is completely redesigning the connector. So we know what the function of the connector is supposed to be. But now let’s redesign that connector in a more industrial form factor to begin with. So now we’re not trying to make a commercial product more rugged. We’re —— from the ground up —— building an industrial product. And when we do that, then we have the ability —— you know, technology has certainly changed a bit —— we have the ability to also hit that miniaturization aspect. So the product, our product, the ix Industrial connector, is maybe 70% the footprint of an RJ45. But it’s completely industrial-rated. It’s got the shielding, it’s got everything that you need for a more rugged environment, but also something smaller.

Aaron Hand: [00:17:55] One thing I’d like to get into today are smart connectors. So I’ve heard the term “smart connectors.” I really don’t feel like I have an inkling of what that would mean. What is it? I mean, I guess first, just give us a definition of what you would call a smart connector, and then let’s get into what that means, what that enables.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:18:15] Yeah. So I think a smart connector, very broadly defined, is … So the typical function of a connector basically is to provide electrical connection, power, or signal or data. That’s the primary function of a connector. And what I would consider a smart connector is something that’s adding additional intelligence or adding additional functionality beyond the, you know, basic use of a connector. And that could be anywhere from, let’s say, adding a little LED status indicator so that you know  the connector is plugged in and it’s powered. So just to enhance that user experience. Or it could be adding some type of mechanical locking system so that you can’t —— when the equipment is powered —— you can’t unplug it and maybe accidentally electrocute yourself. So it’s got that bit of intelligence. And then, yeah, anything in between.

Aaron Hand: [00:19:29] One of the things I had written down to was current monitoring. I mean, do you have a connector that could monitor what’s actually coming through?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:19:41] Correct. And that’s what I was going to add [about smart connectors]. So, the addition of maybe ICs, sensors, and different things within that connector form-factor package, so that the connector is essentially collecting information about the environment around it or about the equipment that it’s connected to. So you could monitor if there are spikes in current or potentially you could monitor if there’s rapid changes in temperature or the shock and vibration —— whatever kind of status indicators that you need to understand how your overall system is working. Adding some of that functionality to connector now levels up the connector, so to speak.

Aaron Hand: [00:20:36] I think about industry 4.0 just putting a lot more sensors on things that can monitor vibration or heat or whatever might be an indicator that a piece of equipment is going to fail. So, then, you’re incorporating sensors into the connector?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:20:57] Yeah. And that’s a goal. And a lot of this is being worked on. Some things are here today. Some things are still being developed. But yeah, that’s absolutely the goal. So now we’ve got, you know, maybe in conjunction with the connection to the sensor, now we see what’s happening right at that point of the connection level. Or maybe the information collected by the connector. Maybe we don’t need as many sensors at that endpoint because the connector is collecting that bit of information.

Aaron Hand: [00:21:30] Okay.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:21:32] An example of a smart connector today would be … We have a connector that, if you think about data centers and that area that’s just exploding right now? Well, certainly HVAC systems and building management systems are an important piece of that. And, as you know, how huge the data centers are. So the control systems for HVAC are getting larger and they need a lot of fuse terminal blocks to prevent overcurrent or short circuits and things of that nature. What we’ve worked on is, instead of having the fuse inside of the cabinet that can only be accessed by a licensed electrician, for example, now let’s put the fuse inside of a connector that’s on the outside of the cabinet with a status indicator that shows you when that fuse is blown or when it’s tripped. And so then you can potentially just replace that fuse. You don’t necessarily need to have a licensed electrician —— and you don’t need someone going into your cabinet, which is preferable just from a pure security aspect and from a time-down aspect, from an efficiency standpoint. So, yeah, that would be an example of a smart connector today.

Aaron Hand: [00:22:56] Okay. And I would think that smart connectors could play into a lot of the edge devices or edge computing that that seems to be growing in popularity.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:23:09] Sure.

Aaron Hand: [00:23:10] Also, are there other things that you can incorporate into those connectors to reduce what you need at the edge?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:23:26] Sure. If we think about increasing the intelligence and processing capability in a connector, maybe we don’t need as many edge devices. Maybe, you know, at least that first level of collecting and processing information, maybe that’s done strictly at the connector level. And then we’ve got less devices and it’s less weight, a smaller footprint. So yeah, I could definitely envision an area like that where connectors can simplify our push to smart manufacturing in IoT.

Aaron Hand: [00:24:07] Okay. Bring this into terms we can visualize. I mean, you talk about some of the things that you’re doing now versus some of the things that you’re working on for the future. Where are you seeing the need for this technology? In what types of industries, what types of environments do you see smart connectors making sense?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:24:32] That’s a great question. The generic answer would be, “all of them!”

Aaron Hand: [00:24:36] Of course!

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:24:37] Yes. You know, certainly I gave an example in the data center space because that’s something that’s expanding, I think, in the manufacturing space, I would say mobile robotics. A humanoid robot would be the perfect example for the need for smart connectivity. Because, right now, I’ve seen numbers and the wiring, the connectors, everything, make up, I don’t know, 5 to 10% of the weight of a humanoid. Plus you’ve got other systems and it’s very high-speed processing of data and information. So if we’re able to add functionality to the connector and perhaps reduce the need for some other systems inside of the humanoid, we’re lowering the weight. And where that is important is the efficiency of the humanoid robot. You know, they’re running on batteries, they’re not wired. And so the longer the runtime of the machine, the more that we can get out of it. And so I think that’s going to be a kind of critical point into the adoption of humanoids. The more we can do with it, then the more likely the humanoids are going to take off and be adopted.

Aaron Hand: [00:25:56] I think about robotics putting a lot of pressure on the connector industry to develop what they need, but it sounds like there’s a lot of opportunity, too.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:26:07] Right. There’s both. And that’s why it’s important to be at events like Automate. And Automate has a humanoid robotic forum. Manufacturers are there and having these types of discussions to understand what the needs are and what the challenges are and how we can address them.

Aaron Hand: [00:26:33] I think certainly an issue with humanoids, or AMRs in general or whatever sort of mobile robotics you have, is battery charging. You know, does it go back to one station for X number of hours? How often do you have to charge those? Do you see connectors being able to provide the capability of monitoring that battery state?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:27:18] You know, maybe the BMS battery management system functionality is incorporated into the connector. I mean, maybe that’s farther into the future, but even still, collecting and providing some of that status information or looking at current draw, looking at different things, I think the connector can do that and help with that with by incorporating more sensors and smarter connectivity. Certainly the connector, the miniaturization that we talked about, would really be a key for enhancing battery life for an AMR or humanoid by reducing weight. Shock and vibration is certainly very, very important. So we want rugged, reliable connections when we’re talking about that. One of the challenges, I think, with humanoids is, what happens when something fails and how easy is it to replace a system or to replace an arm or the end effector, or whatever doesn’t work? And perhaps connectors can play a role in making the humanoid more modular and easier to repair. And then we keep it operating and running. And, yeah, everybody’s making money and happy!

Aaron Hand: [00:28:50] All right.!Well, let’s take a look at the future a little bit. Five to seven years. That’s not very far out, but a lot can change in that time. So, where do you envision connectors going and the kind of role that they might be playing that people might not expect now?

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:29:19] Yeah, that’s a really good question. I think we’ve touched on some of it, but the trends towards miniaturization? I see connectors continuing to get smaller. I know people are looking at some really, really interesting things in terms of packaging. I think connectors will be looking at different materials to facilitate some of these things. Certainly continuing to evolve in terms of adding intelligence, in terms of adding functionality to the connector. I think that’s going to be a clear direction for the industry. And then, of course, bandwidth and data rates. You know, I’ve been in the industry for a number of years and the things that we’re able to do with copper connectors is just mind blowing. We never thought we could get anywhere near the kind of data rates that we’re doing. And I can’t imagine five to 10 years from now, you know, if it continues with copper, maybe there’s fiber optic as well. So I think all of these kind of mega-trends will continue. And I really, really look forward to seeing what the next evolution is for connectors long term, and for the systems that the connectors support.

Aaron Hand: [00:30:50] All right. Well, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to talk with me. And, thank you all for tuning in. Just keep in mind that we’ve got “Manufacturing Matters” podcasts showing any time you want at manufacturing-matters.com. Or check us out on YouTube or whatever podcast platform you prefer. If you have any questions for Ed, you can put your comments below wherever you’re watching. And just remember to stay tuned! Thank you.

Ed Garstkiewicz: [00:31:24] All right. Thank you.