The annual Automate trade show is set to open June 22–25 at Chicago's McCormick Place, and this year's edition is shaping up as a major proving ground for so-called physical AI — artificial intelligence that doesn't just process data, but controls machines operating in the real world.
Teradyne Robotics, headquartered in Novi, Michigan, announced it will demonstrate production-ready physical AI applications at the show, saying the technology is actively transforming industrial automation. The company's emphasis on "production-ready" is significant: it signals a shift from lab demos to systems customers can actually deploy on factory floors.
Teradyne won't be alone on the show floor. According to Travel And Tour World, a roster of industrial heavyweights — including Siemens, ABB Robotics, Beckhoff Automation, Schneider Electric, and Festo Corporation — are also participating. The breadth of that list reflects how broadly the manufacturing sector is betting on automation technology right now.
The event is organized by A3, the Association for Advancing Automation, which described it as opening "next week" in a release cited by Yahoo Finance UK.
For everyday consumers, the stakes are less visible but very real: the factories that make cars, electronics, medical devices, and consumer goods are increasingly run by robots guided by AI. What gets demonstrated at shows like Automate often ends up inside the supply chains that stock store shelves within a few years.
If physical AI moves from trade-show floor to factory floor as quickly as its backers suggest, the economics of manufacturing — and the jobs tied to it — could shift faster than most people expect.