Julia Hider

<p>I expected my first experience at Automate, held May 6-9 at Chicago’s McCormick Place, to include an array of robots (arms, dogs, humanoids, AGVs and so on) performing all manner of complex tasks. And while I did see a lot of cool and interesting demonstrations (scroll down to the last section to watch robots making cocktails!), much of the emphasis at the show this year was on the software behind the automation. Many companies said that for robotics and other forms of automation to become mo…