Automation World Gets Your Questions Answered

As intelligence moves onto production lines and into warehouses, retail spaces, and other on-site operations, those systems need to make decisions in real time, right where the data is created, particularly with the advent of physical AI. That puts a premium on compute-dense, on-premises servers that can run demanding AI workloads without a round trip to the cloud. Cloud economics reinforce the trend, since moving that much data off-site adds cost, latency and security exposure.  In this Automation World podcast, we connect with OnLogic's Andrew Hamblin to explore:  Delivering all of the capabilities of physical AI into harsh, cramped industrial environments without relying on the cloud   Greater compute power and acceleration at the edge, where the data is being processed  Smoother alignment between IT and factory-operations teams vis hardware that satisfies both camps More modular right-sized approach to hardware  This podcast is sponsored by OnLogic.

In this Automation World podcast, recorded at the YNOW2026 Users Conference in New Orleans, we connect with Yokogawa executives George Nino and Kevin Blum, who jokingly refer to themselves as "The Department Of No" to explore maintaining solid governance in the use of artificial intelligence. The legal/sales duo explains how clearly defining parameters in which your enterprise uses AI actually speeds up productivity with it, and they define what responsible adoption of AI looks like in the modern industrial environment.

In this Automation World podcast we connect with Patrick Varley, industry marketing manager for robotics at Mitsubishi Electric Automation, to explore the world of smarter machine tending via robotic assets to overcome labor and skills shortages. Patrick details the increasing awareness among smaller manufacturing enterprises about the benefits of robotic employees that, unlike some human counterparts, don't require extensive training and then just walk out the door. Finally, we explore the robots-as-a-service approach (rent-a-robot) that delivers fully programmed robotic machine-tending programs at zero CapEX.

Software-defined automation is an evolving strategy to decouple software from hardware to enable smarter virtualization, containerization and truly modern IT architectures. Manufacturers that embrace this approach gain greater flexibility, and can streamline upgrades while accelerating innovation initiatives.  But they have to understand how to do it first.   During this Automation World podcast we chat with Stefan Basenach, head of process automation technology at ABB, to discuss what software-defined automation really means, why it's gaining traction and how it might just reshape the future of industrial operations.   This podcast is sponsored by ABB.

In this Automation World podcast, we connect with Jay Stacey, Emulate3D lead with Rockwell Automation, to take a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities with virtual commissioning in the modern manufacturing era. We discuss who is best suited to capitalize on virtual commissioning, and focus on why de-risking systems is, arguably, the greatest win with this approach.

In this Automation World podcast, we connect with Eric Thorsen, senior director for strategy for industrial manufacturing in North America with Infor, to explore how manufacturers can ensure that robotics and automation spend results in valuable outputs...robotics ROI, to put it bluntly.

In this Automation World podcast as we connect with Mark Derbecker, co-founder and chief product officer at Seeq, to discuss how exploring context, traceability and governance can give engineers confidence to act on AI-driven insights. As manufacturers move AI closer to consequential operational decisions, we will explore what it actually takes to close that gap: grounding AI in engineering context, making recommendations traceable back to operational data, and treating governance as an enabler rather than a roadblock. Finally, we dive into why the goal shouldn’t be removing engineers from the loop, but giving them AI insights they can validate, defend and confidently act on. This podcast is sponsored by Seeq.

In this Automation World podcast, we connected with Dave Madeley, Siemens senior director for part manufacturing for Siemens Digital Industries Software, live at the IMTS show in Chicago to learn what we mean by the term "industrial AI" and explore the myriad ways it is being leveraged in manufacturing environments to make sense of the mountains of data we're generating. 

In this Automation World podcast, we connected with Teradyne Robotics' Will Healy at the IMTS show in Chicago, where (like most shows) Will attracted crowds eager to talk with him about robotics and AI. Here, we pick his brain about automation evangelism, workforce realignment as robots increasingly appear on plant floors, amazing new capabilities with robotic arms and, finally, what he thinks is the coolest thing in automation right now. Preach, Will!

In this Automation World podcast, we connect with John Perez, product manager with Fuchs Lubricant Company, to explore how industrial lubricants (and their uses) are changing in the industrial space as automation evolves and places new demands on assets. We discuss evolving expectations from OEMs for higher-performing, synthetic lubricants. And we touch on ways that artificial intelligence is empowering lubricant manufacturers to accelerate the process of optimizing formulations. Slick!