Automate is back! Throughout the week, we will bring you a series of exclusive interviews and stories straight from the much-anticipated Automate show in Chicago! MVPro Media’s CEO Alex Sullivan kicks things off with an exciting interview with Jeff Burnstein, the President of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3).
In this interview, Jeff discusses the numbers for this year’s event and reveals what he is most excited to see. He also stresses the importance of face-to-face interaction at trade shows following the Covid hiatus in 2021, and shares the plans for Automate 2025 and 2026!
Q: Congratulations on what looks like a wonderful show. From your perspective, how’s the show looking in terms of numbers?
“We were last in Chicago in 2019. At that point, we were co-located with another show and were in a section of the North Hall. Then we went to Detroit for a couple of years, and now that we’re back, we’ve taken the entire South Hall, so the show has more than doubled in size with over 800 exhibitors. We expect 35,000-40,000 participants and over 1,200 people have signed up for the conference. So we’ve seen tremendous growth.
“Originally, Automate was held every other year, but Covid affected that so we couldn’t hold the show in 2021. We held it in Detroit in 2022 and 2023, and it was so successful that we’ve been able to be here in Chicago and make Automate an annual show. The original plan was to go to Detroit in 2025 to fulfil our contract there, but then we had an opportunity to come to Chicago in 2024. We are here this year and will be back in Detroit next year. Then we’ll be in Chicago in 2026, and then we’ll see. We’ll announce 2027 sometime soon.”
Q: After Covid, everyone seems happy to be back at in-person events, meeting people and seeing demonstrations. How have you found the return?
“We did virtual shows and conferences during Covid, which were fine. We were actually pretty successful during that period, but people want to be in person. This industry is changing so much, thanks to the advancements in areas such as artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics, so you need a show every year to stay on top of this.
“There are so many new companies and start-ups, which brings a lot of innovation. People want to come to the show and meet others, and the companies want to show off what they’ve got. You can’t fully understand what you’re looking at with online events.”
Q: What else are you excited about seeing here?
“The first thing that jumped out at me was the amount of collaborative robots. There are more here than I’ve ever seen in any one place before. I’m also excited to see the advancements in artificial intelligence, and how the machines are getting smarter. Then of course, we’re keeping a close eye on humanoids; we’re launching our first humanoid robot forum in Memphis in October, and we have at least one humanoid here.”
Q: What can you tell us about the A3 and the automation industry as a whole?
“Even though robotics has been around 70 years, we feel like we’re just getting started. There are so many more industries out there looking to automate, and a lot of it’s being driven by a labour shortage. No matter what business you’re in, it’s hard to find people to do jobs which are dull, dirty, dangerous or repetitive.
I think we will see a lot more automation in industries such as agriculture, construction, life sciences, and medical care. There is such a demand for these kinds of technologies. Machine vision, motion control, and advanced sensing are merging together, which is why A3 now has over 1,300 member companies around the world. That makes us the largest robotics and automation association in the world dealing with those technologies. And we’re going to continue to grow.”
