Control Intelligence
Welcome to Control Intelligence, a ControlDesign.com podcast that goes deep inside the automation and technology that machine builders, system integrators and end users rely on to keep production humming efficiently
Episodes
In factory automation, safety systems are no longer the peripheral add-ons of the past. They are integral to the design, operation and long-term viability of production lines. As automation increases and machinery becomes more interconnected, engineers are routinely tasked with specifying safety controllers, networks, sensors and safety I/O devices that carry a defined safety integrity level (SIL).
In this episode of Control Intell...
In this episode of Control Intelligence, which was written by contributing editor Shawn Cox in June of 2023, more than two and a half years ago, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses the predictions for control systems. Cox’s article was revisited by many as we closed out 2025, and it became one of Control Design's most popular reads in December. Let’s revisit his thoughts from the summer of 2023.
Control systems engineering requires a broad knowledge base of many components. Why? Applications of all shapes, sizes, functionality and needs are brought to machine-builder tables, and automation is requested to provide solutions to manufacturing problems.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses motor starters and variable-frequency drives.
Did Industry 4.0 go away? No. It seems that, behind the scenes, the open-source platform community is just working along, developing the next go-around of competitive devices for the traditional automaton folks to keep up with.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses Ethernet-APL.
Integration of PLCs and robots has become standardized. Standard robot command interface is a means for robots to increase its interface capacity with programmable logic controllers, but SRCI has been around for a while.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses the standard robot command interface.
Field-mounted devices change the way controls engineers approach industrial networking. The shift toward on-machine connectivity can simplify design, streamline wiring and enable strategies like conveyor zone management.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Rick Rice, editor in chief Mike Bacidore talks about how field networking unlocks automated setup and diagnosti...
While China's technical design report for its proposed circular electron-positron collider (CEPC) is still awaiting government approval for inclusion in the next five-year plan, hope is still strong that construction of the $5.2 billion supercollider could begin as soon as 2027 and be completed in a decade, surpassing CERN's large hadron collider (LHC) as the world's largest machine.
In this episode o...
The guest on this episode of Control Intelligence is Jeremy Pollard, who was a 10-year veteran of Allen-Bradley as a technical specialist. Pollard established Allen-Bradley's Toronto District Training Office where PLC-2, PLC-3 and PLC-5 courses were implemented, and more than 1,000 students were personally trained by him.
Pollard has consulted for SoftPLC, Flexis Control, Wonderware and IndX Software and was responsible for produc...
For many years, real-time control software, whether running on a dedicated controller or an industrial PC, operated on a single CPU core. The runtime scheduler could precisely calculate scan times, and the engineer’s mental model of “one processor, one control loop” held true.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Joey Stubbs, editor in chief Mike Bacidore shares how to handle determinism, jitter a...
The combination of technology and market forces is reshaping the automation supply chain for machine builders. Where can you turn for guidance?
In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses automation distribution and Control Design's upcoming webinar on the supply chain.
At its core, an industrial machine vision system comprises high-resolution cameras, specialized illumination, image processors and software algorithms. The system captures images or video of products and processes and then analyzes this visual data to detect defects or anomalies, measure dimensions with high precision, verify the presence or position of parts and guide automated equipment or robots.
I...
Industrial enclosures and human-machine interfaces (HMIs) represent a pivotal advancement in automation and control. These integrated systems enable seamless interaction between operators and complex machinery, offering robust protection for sensitive electronics and user-friendly access to real-time data.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Charles Palmer, editor in chief Mike Bacidore talks abo...
In factories, motion control systems are more complex than ever. Multi-axis machines, integrated robotics and tight production schedules leave little room for trial and error. For decades, programmers have had to wait until the first machine was assembled to test their code, often discovering issues once it was most costly to fix them.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Joey Stubbs, editor in ch...
There are many applications in the industrial automation realm that benefit from state machines. Therefore, it was surprising to hear from an industrial programming specialist who says he does not like state machines and was adamant about their not working.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses state machines.
Control systems use direct current (dc) motors for many applications. Many systems displace dc with alternating current (ac) technology because ac motors are more cost effective and lower maintenance than a dc motor with brushes. But are they?
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Tobey Strauch, editor in chief Mike Bacidore discusses ac and dc motors.
It has become a de facto standard in plants and machines for interconnecting systems and in fact individual devices. So, what happens when it fails? What would make it fail?
In this episode of Control Intelligence, written by contributing editor Jeremy Pollard, editor in chief Mike Bacidore network-troubleshoots dos and don’ts.
In 2023, the Control Intelligence podcast on RS-232 was greeted with immediate popularity, and it remains an often-downloaded podcast episode. Electronic Design, an EndeavorB2B partner brand, republished the podcast episode, initiating some feedback from listeners.
Hear their stories, and revisit the original podcast, in this refreshed Echolocation Episode.
In this episode of Control Intelligence, editor in chief Mike Bacidore is joined by Mike Devereux and Tim Finerty from national accounting and consulting firm Wipfli. Mike Devereux is a partner at Wipfli in the St. Louis area. He is a certified public accountant (CPA) and certified manufacturing professional (CMP) and the author of "More cash, better machines: your guide to the new tax law". He is a member of the American Institute...
In 2021, Control Intelligence spoke with Austin Park, winner of the first ever Acopian Power Supply Scholarship in 2017.
Park had completed his master's degree in energy resources engineering, Cleantech, machine learning and decarbonization at Stanford University and was working as a machine learning engineer at Gridmatic, where he's now been for almost six years. At Gridmatic, located in the San Francisco Bay area, Austin's respon...
This week’s guest on Control Intelligence is Tobey Strauch, senior staff electrical engineer, project manager and one of Control Design's most trusted controls engineers.
Over the course of her career thus far, Strauch has accumulated valuable experience with a variety of industrial heavy hitters, including DWFritz, International Paper, Doosan Fuel Cell, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force. She is a regular contributor and colu...
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