Vishay Precision Group (NYSE: VPG): From Strain Gauges to Humanoid Force Sensing
Vishay Precision Group makes foil strain gauges, the unglamorous sensors that let a machine feel force by measuring how a piece of metal foil resists electricity as it deforms — a technology old enough that neither the science nor the customer base has changed much in decades. In the second quarter of 2026, one very new customer changed everything: a formal vendor nomination letter from a humanoid robot maker, after two years of engineering work nobody outside the company knew was happening.
Who they are
VPG designs and manufactures precision sensors, weighing solutions and measurement systems, built around foil-based strain gauges — sensors that detect force, pressure and torque by measuring electrical resistance changes in metal foil as it deforms under load. That core technology serves transportation, industrial automation, medical and steel-production markets through three segments: Sensors, Weighing Solutions, and Measurement Systems, with factories across the United States, Israel and Germany.
Recent growth has come from a deliberate combination of acquisitions — KELK and Nokra strengthened its measurement systems for steel and aluminum industries — and organic investment in advanced sensors for new applications, humanoid robotics chief among them. CEO Ziv Shoshani has framed the company's four core priorities as strategic acquisitions, product innovation, operational efficiency and brand strength, with humanoid robotics now sitting squarely inside the product-innovation pillar.
What they do
A robot's ability to modulate grip strength, sense contact, and balance under load all depend on force sensing somewhere in the joint or hand, and VPG's foil strain gauge technology is a mature, well-understood way to build that capability. The company's Q2 2026 disclosure marks the clearest inflection point yet: it received an official vendor nomination letter from its initial humanoid robotics customer, described by management as reflecting "more than two years of engineering collaboration, product development, qualification work, and operational reviews."
That two-year timeline is worth dwelling on. It illustrates concretely how long the qualification cycle runs in this industry before a sensor supplier moves from sample shipments to a formal nomination — the same multi-year pattern described qualitatively across other stages of this chain, now shown with an actual disclosed duration. Management indicated the customer's forecast demand is significant enough that VPG is adding manufacturing capacity ahead of the ramp, and characterised the expected production trajectory as moving from "tens of bots per week up to hundreds and even thousands per week by the end of the year."
Beyond the first nominated customer, VPG disclosed it continues to make progress with other humanoid robotics developers and is actively engaging additional potential customers — language suggesting the first nomination is not an isolated event but the leading edge of a broader qualification pipeline across multiple robot makers.
How they make money
Q2 2026 revenue was $83.9 million, up 12% year over year, though it missed consensus estimates of $87.4 million, with adjusted earnings of $0.04 per share also missing the $0.19 consensus. The revenue shortfall traced to a roughly $3 million shipment delay at VPG's KELK steel-industry measurement business, caused by supply chain disruption from a new ERP system implementation — a temporary, disclosed, non-strategic issue rather than a signal of underlying demand weakness.
Management guided Q3 2026 revenue to $84–89 million and reiterated confidence that full-year organic growth would exceed its previously stated 8–10% three-year target range, with the humanoid production ramp and continued strong Sensors bookings cited as the reasons for that confidence even as near-term margins face pressure from foreign exchange and the temporary KELK delay.
Where it sits in the value chain
VPG sits in Stage 4 — Sensing & perception, specifically in the force and tactile sensing niche that complements the vision-based sensing (lidar, cameras) covered by Hesai and Ouster. A humanoid's ability to grip an egg without crushing it, or catch its own balance without a vision system's help, depends on the kind of force feedback VPG's strain gauges provide — a distinct sensing modality from anything a camera or lidar unit can supply.
VPG's position also illustrates the design-win-to-production-order pattern this stage's other suppliers describe more generally: qualification takes years, order sizes start small, and the transition from "tens of units per week" to "thousands per week" is the specific inflection every sensing supplier in this chain is watching for from their own customers.
The bigger trend
VPG's formal nomination letter is one of the cleanest, most concretely dated pieces of evidence in this entire supply chain that a specific humanoid program is moving from prototype to production. The disclosed two-year qualification timeline, the specific production-ramp language ("tens... to hundreds and even thousands per week"), and the record Sensors segment bookings together paint a picture of genuine, near-term demand rather than speculative capacity investment ahead of unconfirmed volume.
The obvious limiting factor is customer concentration risk during this early phase: VPG has one nominated customer and several others in earlier-stage engagement, which means its humanoid revenue trajectory over the next several quarters depends heavily on that first customer's own production execution succeeding at the scale management described.
What to watch
- Whether the nominated customer's H2 2026 production ramp actually reaches the "hundreds to thousands per week" pace management described.
- Additional humanoid customer nominations beyond the first, given management's disclosure of ongoing engagement with multiple developers.
- Resolution of the KELK ERP-related shipment delay and its Q4 2026 revenue contribution.
- Sensors segment book-to-bill trends as a leading indicator, given the segment's direct exposure to humanoid demand.
- Full-year organic growth relative to the 8–10% three-year target, which management now expects to exceed.
Related companies
🇺🇸Vision-based sensing counterpart to VPG's force and tactile sensing in the same humanoid perception stack.
🇺🇸Fellow U.S. sensing supplier, with force/torque sensing through its ATI Industrial Automation brand.
🇨🇳Already shipping robotics sensors at volume, the scale VPG's humanoid business is working toward.
FAQ
What did VPG announce about humanoid robotics in Q2 2026?
The company received a formal vendor nomination letter from its initial humanoid robotics customer, following more than two years of engineering collaboration and qualification work. The customer's planned production ramp is expected to begin in the second half of 2026, potentially scaling from tens of robots per week to thousands by year-end.
What kind of sensors does VPG make for robots?
Foil-based strain gauges, which measure force, pressure and torque by detecting electrical resistance changes in metal foil under load. These are used for force feedback and tactile sensing applications, distinct from vision-based sensing like lidar or cameras.
Is VPG's humanoid business already generating meaningful revenue?
Not yet at scale. The Q2 2026 milestone was a vendor nomination and qualification step rather than large-volume shipments, though the Sensors segment that houses this business posted record bookings of $48.1 million with a 1.44 book-to-bill ratio in the same quarter, reflecting broader demand across AI infrastructure and semiconductor markets alongside the new humanoid business.
Is VPG profitable?
Q2 2026 results showed a $1.7 million GAAP net loss, driven by foreign exchange headwinds, higher costs and a temporary shipment delay at its KELK steel-industry business, though the company's underlying order trends and book-to-bill ratio remained strong across seven consecutive quarters.