> The simpler device will always have an economic advantage.
The recent history of technology suggests otherwise. General-purpose devices displace simpler single-purpose devices. Consider all the specialized, but relatively simple, circuits displaced by the desktop computer.
Yes, but simpler general-purpose devices displace more complex general-purpose devices, so long as they're also suitable to the tasks. A robot with a couple of graspers, a picker, a suction manipulator, plus some graspable special-purpose tools could be as versatile as a humanoid robot with anatomically inspired human-like hands, but be several times simpler and several times more reliable.
The recent history of technology suggests otherwise. General-purpose devices displace simpler single-purpose devices. Consider all the specialized, but relatively simple, circuits displaced by the desktop computer.