B&R Enhances Coding With New Automation Studio Code and Copilot

B&R Industrial Automation’s new Automation Studio Code and Copilot is a software platform that makes it easier to build code and collaborate with other programmers. The formal unveiling of the new coding environment took place at the Smart Production Solutions (SPS) 2024 exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany.

The key features of this coding environment are users' ability to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to build some of the code and its seamless integration with cloud interfaces. Both features enable code to be generated quicker and altered, edited, and shared more conveniently than ever before.

B&R has updated its Automation Studio Code for easier and faster programming. Image used courtesy of B&R Industrial Automation

Programming With Generative AI

Built into the Automation Studio Code is Automation Studio Copilot. Copilot’s role is to use generative AI to help with coding. Generative AI is a powerful tool for writing code, as who better to program a computer than…a computer? High-level programming architecture is best created by a human programmer, but there are plenty of time-consuming, mundane pieces of code that can be delegated to generative AI. Subroutines, calibration data curve fitting, and other such common functions can be quickly performed by Copilot instead of taking up the programmer’s time.

Copilot has been designed to handle natural language. This ability enables users to simply type, in plain language, prompts to generate code. For example, a programmer could type, “Give me a routine to convert bar to psi,” and the code would be generated automatically.

With Automation Studio Copilot, users have access to a full-time, generative AI coding assistant. Image used courtesy of B&R Industrial Automation

Cloud-Based Collaboration

Besides collaboration with generative AI, Automation Studio Code and Copilot also make it easier to collaborate with other work team members. The environment provides seamless integration with the cloud, making it simple for multiple programmers to work on the same code without sharing files manually.

The ability to collaborate in coding on the cloud is a major advantage. One of the primary concerns in large programming projects is document and change control. If one programmer is working on a section of code and spots an error in another section, do they change the error or not? If they do, it will likely be overwritten by whoever is working on that section, and the error will remain unchanged. If they don’t, it is easy to forget to tell the other programmer, and once again, the error goes unchanged.

Automation Studio Code and Copilot can also be integrated with resources such as GitHub, Azure DevOps, or other third-party repositories to help speed up the coding process.

Automation Studio Code and Copilot feature cloud collaboration so multiple developers can work on code in real time. Image used courtesy of B&R Industrial Automation

Developing With Automation Studio Code

Virtually any company that writes and maintains large repositories of software can benefit from the Automation Studio Code and Copilot. Its ease of collaboration and the ability to leverage generative AI to write some of the code makes it a major time saver.

B&R is part of ABB Group, one of the biggest names in automation. As a member of ABB, integration between many automation platforms and the Automation Studio Code and Copilot is a standard feature.