The hybrid connectors behind modern automation

Robert Brodie, product manager at industrial connector specialist PEI-Genesis, explores the connectors behind building scalable, efficient automation architectures for industrial environments worldwide.

Automation adoption is accelerating globally. According to the International Federation of Robotics’ World Robotics 2025 report, 542,000 industrial robots were installed worldwide in 2024, marking the fourth consecutive year above 500,000 units. The organisation notes that the surge reflects “the transition of many industries into the digital and automated age,” as factories and warehouses scale robotics deployments. This growth is placing greater demands on power and data infrastructure, making the connector central to scalable, reliable automation system designs.

Accommodating smaller footprints

Automation now delivers far more capability in much tighter spaces. Robots can house multiple sensors, actuators and embedded controllers, dramatically expanding the number of electrical pathways needed. Traditional connectors, chosen initially for their robustness and simplicity, struggle in these compact, complex environments.

Hybrid connectors have become a key solution. They can carry high‑current power and low‑voltage data within the same housing, reducing the need for separate wiring runs. Designed with carefully separated power and signal contacts, insulation barriers and controlled creepage and clearance distances, hybrid connectors help maintain electrical integrity even when circuits with different voltage levels sit millimetres apart.

This consolidation saves space, reduces cable complexity and allows machines to be reconfigured quickly, which is particularly valuable in warehouses and production lines where layouts change frequently.

Robust, rugged connectors

A single weak interconnect, perhaps brought about by excessive wear and tear, can bring an entire production facility offline, causing costly downtime and avoidable repairs. Therefore, connectors for industrial use must also withstand constant torsion, vibration and impact, undergoing thousands of mating and unmating cycles without degrading.

For robustness, traditional heavy-duty connectors used to be the ‘go to’ for these applications. Hybrids were seen as delicate with their high-pin-density components and generally more costly to replace.

However, mechanical robustness in hybrid connectors can be ensured by incorporating indexed coupling systems, triple‑start threads, bayonet detents and sealed IP68 or IP69K housings into a single, rugged design. These features maintain contact alignment and retention force under harsh industrial conditions, while preventing water ingress.

Contact design also plays a critical role. Copper-alloy contacts plated with gold or silver maintain low resistance, reduce heating and prevent fretting corrosion during vibration, while supporting a higher number of mating cycles. The conductive base material helps dissipate heat from current surges, especially in robotics, where regenerative braking can send voltage spikes through the harness. This thermal and electrical stability directly supports system longevity and challenges the previously held belief that hybrid connectors are delicate.

High-speed data transmission

High‑speed data transmission is foundational to automation performance, enabling real‑time decision‑making, collision avoidance and coordinated multi‑robot/cobot operations. 

In a well-engineered hybrid connector, high-speed differential pairs can maintain the 100 Ω impedance required by Ethernet-based networks without signal distortion, even when positioned only a few millimetres from a high-voltage contact. 

The connector’s controlled geometry and continuous 360-degree braid termination preserve return-loss performance and signal quality throughout the robot’s range of motion.

PEI-Genesis specialises in assembling hybrid connectors to precise customer specifications. The offer includes a wide range of circular and rectangular connector platforms, such as MIL-DTL-38999, MIL-DTL-26482, M12 and M23 hybrids with options for contact configurations, plating and sealing. 

Each connector is built to last, compact in size, rugged and capable of high-speed data transmission. Their precision engineering supports smarter, scalable and more efficient automation architectures across global industrial environments.

www.peigenesis.com