Rockwell Automation and Microsoft Expand Partnership to Leverage Generative Artificial Intelligence Capabilities

Rockwell Automation and Microsoft announced an extension of their longstanding relationship to help accelerate industrial automation design and development through generative artificial intelligence (AI). The companies are combining technologies to further empower the workforce and accelerate time-to-market for customers building industrial automation systems. The first outcome of this collaboration will add Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service into FactoryTalk Design Studio to deliver capabilities that help to accelerate time-to-market for their customers who are building industrial automation systems.

Rockwell Automation and Microsoft recognize that using AI to enhance automation across various roles, from decision makers to control engineers and operators, is a key area where they can come together to help customers further streamline their processes and drive greater worker productivity.

Adding Azure OpenAI Service into FactoryTalk Design Studio helps engineers to generate code using natural language prompts, automating routine tasks and improving design efficiency. It will also help empower experienced engineers to accelerate development and mentor new engineers on a learning path more efficiently and effectively. Additionally, it will assist in finding relevant help from large collections of information to further educate developers. Rockwell Automation and Microsoft see a bright future in extending this integrated technology to solve other challenges, including quality management and improvement, failure mode analysis, and training frontline workers to execute manufacturing processes through chat-based collaboration with experienced human workers as well as Azure Open AI Service-based chatbots.

Additionally, Rockwell Automation and Microsoft are continuing to explore ways to help advance innovation in the industrial metaverse. Both companies are using their respective IoT capabilities, cloud datasets, simulations, and AI to design and build products more effectively, efficiently, and sustainably.

Craig Resnick,  ARC Advisory Group, commented,  “One of the biggest challenges manufacturers and processors face today continues to be how to help its workforces that are often smaller in number and less experienced assume multiple roles and responsibilities and simultaneously become more productive and efficient. This challenge can be addressed by adding AI capabilities that help workers accelerate their productivity of developing and deploying solutions. The combination of Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service along with Rockwell Automation’s FactoryTalk Design Studio will accelerate its user’s productivity and efficiency for designing and deploying solutions for design, visualization, digital twin, storage, remote access, etc. AI will become a critical productivity tool that workers will require and request for all their tasks, providing them with a virtual digital assist that will become ubiquitous regardless of role.”