A3 names Automate Innovation Awards winners – AMD, ECM and GrayMatter Robotics

The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) has announced the winners of its inaugural Automate Innovation Awards. This year’s winners – AMD, ECM and GrayMatter Robotics – were honoured at a special ceremony on May 6 at Automate 2024.

The Automate Innovation Awards is a competition that recognizes and celebrates groundbreaking automation products and solutions introduced to the market in the previous 12 months. The winners reportedly showcase innovative and unique technologies in the field of industrial automation that also demonstrate a clear and measurable impact in terms of increased efficiencies, reduced costs, improved quality and/or enhanced safety.

The three award categories encompass the scope of how automation technology is implemented in real-world installations: Hardware, Software and Systems.

Hardware: The AMD Embedded+ Architecture is reportedly the first architecture of its kind to combine the AMD x86 processor with integrated graphics and programmable hardware for critical artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing and sensor fusion applications. This architecture simplifies and accelerates design to enable original design manufacturers (ODM) to deliver optimized hardware platforms off-the-shelf and help their customers to bring automated technology and products to market faster.

Software: PrintStator is an advanced electric motor computer-aided design platform developed by Boston-based startup ECM to enable the design, optimization and manufacture of electric motors across multiple use cases while also factoring in global technology and regulatory trends. Motors designed using PrintStator incorporate ECM’s PCB Stator technology.  They are reportedly 70 percent lighter than conventional options, use 80 percent less raw materials to produce, are up to 30 dB quieter and achieve efficiencies in excess of 90 percent.

Systems: SCAN&GRIND from GrayMatter Robotics is a comprehensive solution to the challenges of manual grinding operations, reportedly providing efficiency, consistency and adaptability in high-mix manufacturing environments.  The system’s advanced features, including automated programming of the robot based on scanned data, customizable process parameters and automatic target recognition, make it feasible to leverage robotic technology in a wider range of mass- and specialized-production applications.

“Innovation drives the advancement of automation technology for increasing industrial efficiency, improving worker and consumer well-being and achieving greater sustainability,” says Clarissa Schwendeman, director of marketing, A3. “By recognizing and rewarding innovations that play a pivotal role in shaping the future of automation, we celebrate the industry pioneers leading us toward a smarter, more efficient and sustainable future.”