Meet the Automation Software Engineer
Automation engineers?are a deeply multidisciplinary bunch. Just think of the history of automation: some of the earliest machines were turbines powered by water, which were then augmented by steam engine technology during the Industrial Revolution, which would eventually be revolutionized with electric motors. Still today, all of those disciplines — mechanical, electrical, motion, and programming — are necessary for success and survival in automation.
Software engineers,?on the other hand, are sorcerers of the digital realms — combining their knowledge of programming, algorithms, data structures, and networking to drive innovation and solve intricate problems via computing. Today, their expertise is more crucial than ever as software permeates every aspect of our lives.
Led by a new generation of engineers and platforms, automation engineering and software engineering are beginning to converge. And much like mechanics, electricity, and programmability revolutionized industry in earlier eras… unifying software and automation will revolutionize ours.
Why the Divide?
This is one of those ideas that feels totally obvious in retrospect. Automation and software technology are more entwined than many folks acknowledge today… so why hasn’t this convergence come sooner?
Because of their cultures and distinct histories, these two disciplines have persistently misunderstood each other. After all, most programming in automation does not look like software engineering — it looks like ladder logic. This makes sense, because current automation programming practices emerged by adding programmability to the application of physical relay switches in machine controls. PLC programmers build and maintain the industrial world as we know it today, but by and large, they aren’t acquainted with the practices of the broader software engineering discipline.
Likewise, the potential of software engineering in the field of industrial automation has often been underestimated or overlooked. Software engineers have been at the forefront of digital transformations in areas such as ERP, cloud computing, and data management… but while these advancements have transformed business operations, they don’t come close to impacting machine thinking in most production equipment itself.
When you think about how some of these machines have been running since before software even existed, it's easy to see how the divide has persisted. It’s taken a new generation of engineers with roots in digital code platforms to integrate the two.
A Revolutionary Convergence
As a result, the boundaries between engineering disciplines are blurring. As an early adopter of software in machines, Loupe has long been touting the application of these tools and technologies to the world of industrial automation and robotics — not just at the enterprise level, but in the heart of the machines themselves, right on the plant floor.
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And we’re not alone: a new generation of engineers already operate at the intersection of automation and software. That means…
The possibilities these techniques introduce are almost too many to number: Like making updates to entire lines of machines without being onsite. Or using digital twin technology to precisely test systems so they operate correctly when first assembled. Or leveraging previously unrelated tools like Unreal Engine (designed for video game developers) and adapting them to the automation space.
The Rise of Automation Software Engineers
This convergence isn’t a theoretical exercise; it’s happening now at the cutting edge of automation.
Now, even the biggest machine builders like B&R Industrial Automation and Beckhoff Automation have been releasing products built on the methodology of Automation Software Engineering, allowing for networked code-based controls. While there’s still lots to explore and many unknowns, we’re on the cusp of revolution — and a new breed of professionals is emerging at the forefront.
Whatever platform you use, if you consider your controls programming work to be software engineering, you’re probably an Automation Software Engineer.
It’s not automation engineer OR software engineer, anymore. We can be both. We can do both. We are Automation Software Engineers.
(And if you’re one, too: You’ll find a community of peers?here.)
Making things that help others make things ??????
1 年Preach. I was fortunate to start in machining with CAM software and also cross with many intelligent people in the software space (CAD, PLM, ERP folk) Not nessisarly a strict parallel because the origin of the G-code was APT based with more geometric and command-oriented, but CAM (codes) and things like Vericut (strict G-code simulation after post-processed by CAM). And at heart, all CNC still run on G-code, but more time has baked on CAM It will be interesting if these two evolve the same way
Sr. lvl Industrial Robotic Program Dev and Applications
1 年I like the idea and have been seeing the convergence for many years now. My biggest concern is cross platform global standardization of a single source structure. PLC has been adopted by all brands and commissioned similarly among all integrators/developers for decades. Currently, I can walk up to nearly any system anywhere on earth with a PLC device and learn the hardware/software without having to concern myself with an entirely foreign language behind every device. How will the convergence devs handle this? Or is the underlying plan to ultimately divide the industry so we have paywalls behind every device, because we all know software devs love paywalls and software segregation.
Director/Robotics Engineer @ Stealth Robotics | Software Engineering, Automation, 3D Printing
1 年Robotic software engineering (or otherwise known as applications development) is a hugely underestimated job, its easily up there with the most complicated professions, but yet its also one of the most ridiculed, under-recognised and under paid fields due to its rough around the edges, industrial image, and is most of the time performed in less than plush, highly stressful conditions. With more of the "SiliconValley'esque" types getting somehow more involved, it seems to be devaluing the actual skills and profession of proper automation software engineering once again by driving it with flashy graphics and greasy top level apps. But you end up marvelling that still, after all is said and done, its usually a robot controller (or PLC) that controls and sequences most of everything anyway. That said, I do feel there is a place for more traditional software engineering professions to get involved, as long as these platforms are correctly integrated with the rest of the hardware in a master/slave type of scenario, and errors are handled at the point of failure, because the issue always faced with robots especially is timing faults due to the robots motion, so ensuring proper synchronisation is critical.