ARG Insights Notes on building and shipping real hardware, from Automation Research Group. https://www.automationresearchgroup.com/insights/ 2026-10-11T00:00:00.000Z Automation Research Groupinfo@automationresearchgroup.com The Seam Problem: Where Hardware Products Actually Fail https://www.automationresearchgroup.com/insights/the-seam-problem/ 2026-10-11T00:00:00.000Z 2026-10-11T00:00:00.000ZMadhu Annapragada Every part of a hardware product can pass its own review and the product can still fail. The failures live in the seams, the handoffs between disciplines and between vendors that no single team owns. Design It, Build It, Drop-Ship It https://www.automationresearchgroup.com/insights/design-build-drop-ship/ 2026-09-30T00:00:00.000Z 2026-09-30T00:00:00.000ZMadhu Annapragada A US security-systems company handed us a concept for a connected industrial controller. Eight months later we were drop-shipping tested, provisioned units straight onto their production line. Here's how, and why it matters. The Four Files That Let One Engineer Run an ODM https://www.automationresearchgroup.com/insights/four-files-that-run-an-odm/ 2026-09-21T00:00:00.000Z 2026-09-21T00:00:00.000ZMadhu Annapragada Everyone's writing about how AI will change hardware. Almost no one shows the operating system that makes it real, four plain markdown files that let one engineer and a swarm of agents run a whole product. Nearshore Isn't a Buzzword When You Own the Line https://www.automationresearchgroup.com/insights/nearshore-manufacturing/ 2026-09-11T00:00:00.000Z 2026-09-11T00:00:00.000ZMadhu Annapragada "Where do you manufacture?" used to be the last question a hardware buyer asked. Now it's the first, and nearshore only means something if you own the line. What AI-Augmented Engineering Actually Looks Like Here https://www.automationresearchgroup.com/insights/what-ai-augmented-engineering-looks-like/ 2026-08-27T15:00:00.000Z 2026-08-27T15:00:00.000ZMadhu Annapragada Everyone says they use AI now. Here's the concrete version, where agents actually sit in how we design, build, and ship hardware, three years in. The Age of the AI-Augmented Generalist https://www.automationresearchgroup.com/insights/age-of-the-ai-augmented-generalist/ 2026-08-27T00:00:00.000Z 2026-08-27T00:00:00.000ZMadhu Annapragada After twenty-two years as a design consultancy, ARG now runs as a full ODM. Here's what changed, and why I think the knowledge silo is dissolving.