Industrial Automation Design Patterns
Track one is on the 2nd floor of Jupiter NEXT
Makers are out there building more serious hardware than ever. (At least in my feeds!) Thankfully for them, an under-appreciated realm of optimized solutions already exists, waiting to be utilized.
Industrial automation has spent decades optimizing for reliability, at the cost of being slow to adopt new technology.
But things are changing!
- Software culture has reached manufacturing.
- Cheap general-purpose computers are starting to outcompete proprietary systems.
- Industrial-grade tools and training are more accessible than ever.
That raises some interesting questions:
- What can different engineering cultures learn from each other?
- Why do some systems work for years while others slowly fall apart?
- How can I mentally categorize the huge array of automation hardware out there?
I am deeply interested in the crossover ideas emerging between similar but critically different disciplines. In this talk, I’ll share some of my mental models and hardware patterns observed in the industrial world.
About the Speaker
Michael Graham is a mechanical engineer turned software engineer. He is currently focused on building better factory automation test management systems. He also runs an art business making physical products like LED costume props and novelties. Outside of work, he is actively raising his two young children.