Abstract: An article of manufacture formed as a protective positioning pallet for holding each of a plurality of articles in accurate spatial position. Also, a method of making such positioning pallet, and a method of using such positioning pallet in a robotics environment is disclosed.The article of manufacture has a rigid exterior skeleton frame defining a cylindrical space, the frame having positioning surfaces outside of said space for accurately orienting said frame, and locator surfaces extending into said cylindrical space for locating parts therein relative to said positioning surfaces; one or more cradles are suspended across the locator surfaces in a predetermined fixed position relative to said frame for snugly holding the parts in part-to-part separation. Impact shielding walls are hung on said skeleton spaced from said cradles.