In this episode of The Wrench Factor, guest host Jake Hall, The Manufacturing Millennial, sits down with John Weiler, Associate Director of Sales at Boston Dynamics, to explore where robotics truly fits inside modern maintenance operations.

Maintenance leaders today face mounting pressure: labor shortages, aging assets, increasing safety expectations, and relentless uptime demands. Traditional inspection methods—manual walkdowns, paper checklists, inconsistent reporting—are starting to break under that weight.

The conversation goes beyond the “cool robot” factor to unpack:

• Where robotics delivers measurable operational value—and where it doesn’t
• The struggle to staff, standardize, or perform inspections safely
• How more frequent, consistent data collection changes reliability outcomes
• Why collecting thermal and visual data isn’t the hard part—and what separates teams that act on insights from those that drown in them
• Common misconceptions and adoption challenges

This episode is a grounded look at how robotics can support frontline teams, improve inspection consistency, and help build a more resilient, future-ready maintenance organization.