The Robot Industry Podcast

Hello Everyone,

This episode is a little different for The Robot Industry Podcast. I have invited some of my friends from the ADM Toronto 2025 show to join me to talk about the upcoming show. Informa is a client for over 15 years (aka UBM, and Canon Communications).

I have been involved in the ADM Toronto and ADM Montreal shows for many years. If you know me, you may have fielded a phone call or read an email about the show and the efficacy of being involved in trade events.

I have invited Kayle Kvinge, who is the show director, Annie Helfgott our mentoring expert and Gayle Hutchens, who directs sponsorships at shows ( we moved Gayle, and she is up on the next podcast #149) as we ran out of time.

Some information about ADM Toronto 2025:

Happens at Toronto Congress Center on Oct. 21-23, 2025

The Advanced Manufacturing show happens in Toronto at the Toronto Congress Center, TCC which is right by the airport, which is actually located in Etobicoke on 650 Dixon Road.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 • 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 • 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Thursday, October 23, 2025 • 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

I know that ADM is one big show, but how is the show divided up? Yes there are 6 co-located shows

Packaging | Automation | Design and manufacturing | Plastics and Processing | EV technology

Who are some of the partners in the event?

There are lots of exhibitors:

Here is the show URL:

https://www.admtoronto.com/en/lp-general.html

You can use the code ROBOT to register. See you there.

Thanks,

Jim

Jim Beretta

519-716-2262 Mobile

Welcome to The Robot Industry Podcast #147. My guest for this segment is Bruce Polson whom I have known for decades. He is a very smart guy.

Bruce has over 30 years of experience in automation and engineering.  He began as a process engineer and consumer of automation, establishing a background in processes such as forming, welding, material handling, joining, and discrete assembly.  In automation, he began as an application engineer and eventually migrated into business development, where he has been for the last 15 years.

Who is Ehrhardt Automation?

How do you buy and automation system?

So Bruce, how do you prepare as a manufacturer?

How do they, the prospective customer, set up a budget?

What if you don’t have a spec document?

What are the key elements of the type of automation company that you might want to engage in?

How about 3rd party suppliers, like robot companies, can they help?

Questions that a prospective customer should ask the supplier?

What if you are a new user of automation?

Did we miss anything?

If someone wants to find out more about how they can put automation into their facility, how do they get a hold of you?

Email and phones are still the best ways.

[email protected] / 952-290-3384

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-polson-aa43b213

When you are not helping people get the automation that they need, what do you like to do?

I would like to acknowledge A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our new sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots ~ world leading manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

Hello Robot Friends. Welcome to edition #146 of The Robot Industry Podcast. My guest today is Vivian Chu.

Vivian Chu is a roboticist with over a decade of experience in human-robot interaction. She created Moxi and Poli, and applied her HRI and machine learning expertise to platforms like PR2, Meka, and Kinova Jaco2. She has worked at Google[X], Honda Research Institute, and IBM Research. Vivian holds a Ph.D. in Robotics from Georgia Tech and an M.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania. She’s been recognized by MIT Technology Review (35 Innovators Under 35), Fortune (40 Under 40), named a Google Anita Borg Scholar and Stanford EECS Rising Star, awarded Best Cognitive Robotics Paper at ICRA, and featured on Robohub’s 25 Women in Robotics list.

Questions:

Vivian, Tell us about Diligent, who are you and what do you make?

Where are you located?

How did you get interested in robotics and automation?

What is Moxi?

Why did you decide on hospitals as your first use case?

Who are the economic drivers and decision makers in hospital and what are their pain points?

What are some of the surprises that you learned from hospitals, about robotics?

Why Diligent chose to go AI-hybrid, vs all-in on AI?

The importance of execution > demos and what deployment taught Diligent that the lab couldn’t

Building robots with a “human-first approach,” designing robots to serve as coworkers instead of replacements.

The key design elements that make Moxi ultra- adaptable, dexterous, and safe?

Let’s talk about data? Is this something that hospitals are interested in?

You just brought in some new executives to your team.

What is next for Diligent — now that you have proven yourselves in hospitals, do you have plans to expand into offices, factories? What makes your stack capable of doing so?

Future of robotics working with people?

Did we forget to talk about anything?

You are a busy, new mom. When you are not automating, innovating, building robots, or working with companies and AI, what do you enjoy doing for hobbies?

How can people get a hold of you and find out more about Diligent?

I would like to mention A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our new sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots ~ world-leading manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Thanks, too, to our regular sponsor, Ehrhardt Automation Systems, located in Granite City, Illinois.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Welcome to episode #145 with Shaun Ghafari. Shaun holds a Ph.D., P.Eng. Dean, Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology (FAST) at Humber College in Toronto.

Faculty of Applied Sciences & Technology (FAST) is growing to meet the needs of industry in engineering, mechatronics, robotics, information technology, data analytics, cybersecurity, sustainable design, and the skilled trades. 

Shaun, Tell me a bit about yourself.

Who is Humber College?

What are the most interesting courses?

You talk to Manufacturers….what are the Challenges for manufacturers?

What are they asking for?

Where do your grads go?

Engagement > Does everyone want AI and machine vision?

How are students prepare for industry? Are they doing anything else?

Support from the college

AI &  robotics? 

Cybersecurity?

Did we forget to talk about anything?

How can people get in touch and find out more?

I would like to mention A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our new sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots ~ world-leading manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Thanks, too, to our regular sponsor, Ehrhardt Automation Systems, located in Granite City, Illinois.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Welcome to podcast edition #144. I welcome my friend Konrad Konnerth to the pod

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the robot industry podcast . Thanks for joining us and for subscribing.

Konrad, welcome to the podcast. Can you take a few minutes and introduce yourself to our audience?

Tell me about your automation background here in southwestern Ontario (SWO).

What is happening from a high level in automation?

You have a strong background in precision indexing automation from Germany, correct?

Can you tell our audience about your Adapto Solution?

Who are your customers?

Success stories and use cases for Adapto?

Greenhouse automation?

You are involved in the innovation community here in London. Tell me about that.

Did we forget to talk about anything?

When you are not innovating, robotics and automation, what kind of hobbies do you have?

How can people find you if they want to reach out and find out more about Konnexio.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/konradkonnerth

I would like to mention A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our new sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots ~ world leading manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Welcome to edition #143 of The Robot Industry Podcast. For this edition I am interviewing Andrew Perkins. He is a long time automation machine vision expert and is heading up TrueLight Machine Vision, a division of BOS Innovations.

Andrew, how did you get into this industry?

Who are your customers? Manufacturers or other integrators, robotics OEMs (or all three)?

Do you have a typical customer or are they all custom?

Who is TrueLight Machine Vision Integrations?

Tell me a bit about what is going on in automated vision (in the industry)?

Are you busy?

Lighting?, lenses, AI, data, security and robot guidance?

USE CASES

What kind of vision “inquires” do you get from customers?

How do you go about it, do you need a specification before you do a project?

Engineering study?

What does the future look like for vision, any predictions?

Did we forget to talk about anything?

If someone wants to find out how do they get a hold of you?

https://truelightvision.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/perkinsandrew

I would like to acknowledge A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our new sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots ~ world leading manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

MPI Solutions is a talented group of professionals helping industries across North America with AB, Siemens and Beckhoff machine control and system integration.

Scott Pytel, P. Eng is Co-Owner and VP at MPI. MPI Solutions invited me to tour the facility and chat with the founders.

Kevin van der Maarel is also a Co-Owner and a mechanical engineer. He enjoys the constant change brought about by automation.

What is happening in the world of machine control?

What is Industry 4.0 from your (or your customers') lens?

What type of work do you do at MPI?

Type of control systems do you work in?

You are a Beckhoff Control Systems Integrator. Why is that?

Is there a typical customer or customer project?

What else do you do at MPI Solutions?

Why PC controls?

What industries do you operate in?

Maintenance and support in controls and automation.

MPI Solutions Inc. is located at 980 Adelaide St South Unit 112, London, ON N6E 1R3, Canada

Telephone: 519-690-0494

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or you can use [email protected]

Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing produced today’s podcast and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsors Ehrhardt Automation Systems and our new sponsor Mecademic Industrial Robotics.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

It brings me great pleasure to welcome two experts in the industry to this edition of TRIP (The Robot Industry Podcast) #141.

Steve Hoenig is a senior executive with expertise in marketing, sales, product design, business development, P/L Management, Strat planning, engineering, and leading complex teams. He is an astute, decisive, and energetic leader recognized for outstanding interpersonal relationships and bottom-line results. 

On June 2024, Mike Gunner joined BBS Automation Chicago as their Managing Director/President. 

Mike comes to BBS with many years in the global automation sector which include roles at KraussMaffei as VP of Automation and at Mikron Corporation  

During his 30+ years in Automation, Mike has had Management positions in Sales, Applications, Controls Engineering and Project Management. Some of the industries he has touched on include Medical, Automotive, Consumer and Defense.

Mike has a B.Sc. Honors in Electrical Engineering and also a PH. D in Electronic Engineering both from the University of Hull, England.

Welcome guys, thanks for joining me. It is great to catch up.

Can you give our audience an idea who is BBS?

What are some of the changes that have been happening at BBS?

How many people are you now?

Where are your facilities?

Who is your “perfect” client?

What value of jobs can you take on?

Tell me a little bit about the technologies “stack” of machine systems that you have at BBS (high speed, high accuracy, robotics, etc) 

What are some of the automation trends that you are seeing from a high level?

How do you share these capabilities between divisions, say Germany and Italy? (ie the “One Company” convo)

“Can you walk us through a recent project where a customer came to BBS with a unique challenge—and how your team developed a custom automation solution from concept to completion?”

Building for Scalability

“How do you help customers future-proof their automation investments? Is scalability built into your systems from the beginning?”

Culture of Engineering and Innovation

“How do you foster innovation internally at BBS? Are there systems in place that encourage new thinking or cross-functional collaboration across your global teams?”

What about sectors, I assume that medical device and pharma are areas of interest?

Are there any new areas (of note) happening? 

You work in the electronics area and have some specialties in solder, paste and wearable tech, correct?

Service and support

We talked in the warm up about customers, Industry 4.0 and Mike you mentioned about getting  your OEE up, then worrying about Ind 4.0

Data and MES and Ignitioninfluenceing machine design

Automation Inspiration

“You both work deep in the world of automation—what’s a piece of tech, a machine, or even a moment in your career that made you stop and think, ‘This is why I do what I do’?”

Thanks Mike and Steve, for this update on BBS and what is happening in industrial automation. Did we miss anything?

If someone wants to find out how do they get a hold of you?

https://www.bbsautomation.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-hoenig-b5b0921

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-gunner-973691b

I would like to acknowledge A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots . manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Few things bring me as much excitement and gratitude as working with a dedicated, close-knit team, working towards a common goal. I graduated in 2015 holding my engineering physics degree with a passion to successfully design and build engineering solutions, learn new things, challenge myself, and meet amazing people along the way. Specifically, my passion covers mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. My favorite projects, such as building an autonomous vehicle to compete in the NASA lunabotics mining competition as part of the Queen’s Space Engineering team, integrate a large variety of engineering components including control, automation, and mechatronics engineering.

I found you on a project that you did for CFIN, Canadian Food Innovation Network.

Welcome to edition #140 of the podcast. I welcome Adon Portman from JAKS Automation.

Adon, tell our audience a bit about you and your team.

I would ask about you, how you got involved/started in automation, the team,

Typical automation projects, CFIN, challenges, perfect fit projects?

What kind of work are you looking for?

How you find that work?

Some of the challenges for startup automation companies

What advice would you offer to startup system integrators like ourselves?

What markets do you think are adopting automation?

Have we forgotten to talk about anything?

How do our listeners get in touch with you?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adon-portman

https://www.jaksautomation.com

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or you can use [email protected]

Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing produced today’s podcast and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor Ehrhardt Automation Systems.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Francois Giguere CTO at Vention and Etienne Lacroix Founder & CEO join me for this version (#139) of The Robot Industry Podcast. We talk about automating at lower costs, the manufacturing industry ordering products directly, AI and NVIDIA and what the future holds for capital equipment automation

We talk about:

Palletizing

Robot arms vs actuators

Sensors vs. cameras

Shift away from PLCs inside robot cell

Robots and grasping

Agility, simulation and software

Cabinet door sanding for the kitchen industry

Data, software and the cost of automation trends

AI and Robot Motion

Machine Motion AI (the core) of the Vention product

Upcoming trends in the industry.

"There is nothing more manual than industrial automation." ~ Etienne Lacroix

How can people get a hold of you and find out more about Vention?

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or you can use [email protected]

Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing produced today’s podcast and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor Ehrhardt Automation Systems.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON