Industrial robots have been in existence and commercially available for more than 65 years. Factory automation, a more all-encompassing term, has been in existence in one form or another for considerably longer than that. Humans have continually come up with solutions to solve a wide variety of manufacturing problems in order to make the job of making things more efficient, safer, and cost effective. The available technology continues to improve in many respects but particularly in terms of capabilities and ease of use.

That being said, the many available automation products, the jargon of the automation industry, the sheer number of choices that are available, and the nuances between them can often be difficult to digest and comprehend by the uninitiated. The following is intended to provide an overview of recent automation developments that, for the first time, make financial sense for small and medium-sized businesses to use in their manufacturing processes. The development areas that I will concentrate on are relative to programming and implementation complexity, limited available space, and cost.

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