History and High-Tech Merge in Boston at Rockwell’s Automation Fair
Automation Fair was held in Boston on Nov 6-9, showcasing Rockwell Automation’s industrial partnerships, new technology, and recent acquisitions in a stellar conference and expo show.
Control Automation’s engineering and editorial team made the long flight from the West Coast to Boston this past week to experience Rockwell’s Automation Fair 2023 event. Press conferences, keynote deliveries, and a buzzing expo floor capped off an experience in a city known for some of the richest history in the United States.
However, inside the Boston Conference Center, the main theme of the event was focused on the future, building resilience in manufacturing to identify and solve challenges around skills, costs, and design challenges across a wide array of industries.
The expo floor opened on Wednesday morning, coming right on the heels of a keynote address from Rockwell CEO Blake Moret. During the discussion, a number of digital trends were revealed, including partnerships between the physical and virtual worlds to uncover more possibilities afforded by the ‘metaverse,’ the label for the technology that enables digital twins, live simulations, and many others.
Many of Rockwell’s partner companies showcased solutions to challenges from motion to networking, to data analytics. Here are a few examples of the booths at the show!
nVent Hoffman: Panel and Cabinet Automation
While automation is a difficult task in itself, fabricating the panels that control the automation is time-consuming, repetitive, and demands extreme precision. The solutions offered by nVent Hoffman include wire cutting and stripping for the entire project as well as panel layout, cutout, and drilling, as shown below, with data shared from existing electrical CAD projects.
SMC: Air Flow and Handling
Getting air from a compressor to an actuator is the main task of pneumatics, but with modern technology, we can step the game up for any air handling system. With remote (and even wireless) monitoring devices from SMC, any pressure and flow anomalies can be solved, and devices (valves, actuators, and interlocks) can be provided with safety functions to ensure a reliable work environment.
OTTO Motors: Mobile Robotics
A recent announcement from Rockwell was the acquisition of Clearpath Robotics, and the subsidiary, OTTO Motors. The robust mobile platforms can haul cargo to improve the efficiency of warehousing and logistics centers, allowing safe operation around personnel who can now fulfill more advanced tasks.
Amatrol: Education
This conference included a lot of talk about sustainability, and one statement stood out to me during a presentation from Tessa Myers, the Sr. Vice President of Intelligent Devices at Rockwell. It was a statement I happen to agree with wholeheartedly. She noted that while sustainability certainly includes environmental practices, in business, it also largely revolves around efficiency in practices to lower costs and increase performance to ensure that a company can sustain operations.
How can we build sustainability of skill pipelines to ensure qualified engineers and technicians are ready to fill needed jobs? We look to education partners, such as Amatrol, to build relevant, hands-on training programs, using top-notch devices and systems to present students with a lifelike training experience.
FIRST Robotics: Learning Experiences
Similarly to formal educational programs, a sense of wonder and excitement is built while working in teams to solve challenging problems and present solutions on a competitive stage. The FIRST Lego League (FLL) provides middle school students with that opportunity. Team LigerBots (FRC Team 2877) from West Newton, MA was on hand, demonstrating some FLL robots as well as explaining FRC-level robots to attendees (scroll down the page to see more FIRST robots).
Parker: Network Solutions
The convergence of IT and OT systems means folding the familiar concepts of computer networking technologies into the less familiar world of industrial devices. This is intimidating for both functional areas with conflicting priorities: security versus production. Innovations in network technology solutions, like those from Parker, strive to create more seamless installation and troubleshooting scenarios for fluid (air and hydraulic) control systems while still maximizing safety and data transfer.
More Photos From Automation Fair 2023
Doosan palletizing robot demonstration.
Strain wave gearing by Nidec (note how the central gear is elliptical, not a round planetary gear system) this is smooth and sturdy enough for robot joints.
Motor with embedded drive from JVL Intelligent Motors.
The Spot robot dog fro Boston Dynamics!
Conveyance with motorized rollers, modular sections, and extendable gates.
Process sensors by Endress+Hauser, training system by Amatrol.
Soft Robotics gripper in a workcell manufactured by DCC (Dairy Conveyor Corps) Automation.
Endress+Hauser industrial process sensors.
Delta motion control RMC system in a stabilized platform demonstration.
