Automated systems are great at running things reliably in a repeatable manner.
Many test and manufacturing tasks can be performed much more quickly by a computer than by a human. In addition, some tasks can run 24/7 without an operator present.
The cost of automation (and computing in general) has become surprisingly low compared to previous years. A few decades ago, the ROI of a typical automation project would be measured in years. With advances in technology, today’s typical automation project often has an ROI measured in months or sometimes even weeks.
NI (www.ni.com) makes the hardware and software that we typically use on our automation projects. NI is the market leader for test and measurement software. We use NI’s products because they were specifically designed for the types of automation projects we work on.
LabVIEW is a robust programming language that integrates really well with external instruments (either made by NI or by other vendors).
TestStand is an application with built-in features for enabling automated testing.
We’ve built systems for one man startups, multi-billion dollar public companies, and everything in between. 20 years of experience building these systems lets us make critical early decisions that impact the long term robustness of our systems.
The result is high quality systems that run repeatably for years.
We work to ensure that our systems are easy to use.