Motor City Automation | Previewing The Top Tech at Automate 2025

Automate is always at the top of the list for exciting, engaging, and fast-paced industrial automation trade shows in North America. Every company pulls out all the stops to design the most breathtaking showcases of the latest in robotic, vision, lighting, sensing, and control technology, and much more.

Our engineering and editorial team will be making the rounds to meet with dozens of industry leaders and checking out the latest product innovations. Be sure to stop us and say hello, or stop by our EETech/Control.com booth for a chance to register your badge and score some awesome control gear - booth #8428 - and tell them you’re a fan of Control.com!

 

 

 

 

 

- David Peterson, Director of Engineering Content, Control.com

 

Cognex

Faster! That’s the motto of today’s industry. We’re great at getting information, but these days, we need things to happen more quickly without sacrificing quality. Whether the goal is product quality inspection, character recognition, or bar/2D code scanning, Cognex supplies the cutting-edge vision products to keep the line moving faster.

 

At Automate 2024, Cognex demonstrated defect analysis with high-speed cameras.

 

Cognex will be demonstrating the latest vision systems, including the In-Sight 8900, and giving a close look into how some of the AI algorithms that have exploded over the past couple of years have accelerated tasks like barcode reading, character recognition, and vision set training to get your projects moving faster. Booth #3513

 

Weidmuller

Modern control systems require modern solutions. What could be more modern than to take the idea of the most up-to-date hand-held computer systems in the world (smartphones) and apply the same concept to building modular, robust, secure industrial systems?

 

Part of Weidmuller’s demonstration at a previous Pack Expo included peripheral connectors. Get ready to see the entire control system architecture at Automate!

 

Weidmuller will be showcasing the u-OS, an operating system designed specifically for taking the basic PLC system and enabling it to communicate with other platforms, visualization devices, and with the cloud to collect and process data without requiring massive systems that rely on individual hardware to accomplish each step. Booth #4841

 

Opto 22

Imagine the modularity of a traditional PLC (the CPU, power supply, I/O modules, etc) except the CPU is embedded with an operating system that can accept all sorts of software applications for data handling, control logic, and communications; and it even has a color screen on the front.

This is the concept of the Groov Epic, the latest generation of the Groov I/O system that pulls manufacturing from a hardware-centric era focused strictly on machine control, bringing it into the modern era of software-defined control algorithms. Plus, the Epic (edge programmable industrial controller) has a lot of exciting features, including touch-enabled modules and simple LED diagnostics. Booth #3452

 

Phoenix Contact

Once again, modern control takes center stage, bringing together manufacturing processes of the past (strictly machine logic control) and merging them with the IT world in this now-familiar umbrella term, IIoT technology.

 

Phoenix Contact energy monitoring demonstration showcased at Automate 2024.

 

Phoenix Contact has introduced the PLCnext controller and related engineering software. These allow traditional PLC programming in two side-by-side environments: I/O control on a local runtime alongside a Linux-based operating system that can support thousands of applications. Now, the user gets to define the boundaries of the project; it’s not limited by the hardware as before. Booth #5232

 

Universal Robots

No automation show is complete without robots! According to recent safety standards, the lines between collaborative and industrial robots are blurring, mostly because the situation determines whether the robot will collaborate with humans; it’s not based on the model of the robot in the cell.

 

AI took center stage for robot programming at Automate 2024.

 

Universal Robots (UR) is a leader in this space of robots that are purpose-built for collaborative applications. While they specialize in the robots themselves, UR has procured an excellent lineup of providers who can equip the robots with just the right hardware and software to accomplish detailed tasks for nearly any industry or application. This provider network, the UR+ Ecosystem, will be on full display in a massive booth from UR! Booth #4023

 

Automate Quick Briefs

Mujin: Check out the entire plant management suite from Mujin that brings together fleets, products, and resources for a complete solution. Booth #4639

OnRobot: As important as the robots might be, the tools and end effectors are critical! Check out the wide array of EoAT from OnRobot. Booth #3618

PULS: Power supply… If you forget about reliable power, the entire process will fail. Check out the lineup of power supply and management tools. Booth #6818

Arduino: We all know the boards that appeared for schools and makers decades ago, but Arduino has moved into the Pro space with the Opta PLC! Booth #6632

 

All images used courtesy of the author.