Robotics and automation have come a long way since the development of George Devol’s ‘Unimate’ in the early 1950s. Before Unimate was impressing audiences on the Johnny Carson show in ’66, the world of manufacturing was completely reliant on human power. Today, engineers are moving fast and forward with prototypes that may advance various industries. Listen in as Shashank Samala provides an overview of how his company, Tempo, is providing nearly real time feedback in the digital environment that pushes robotic automation to the next level. Shashank Samala, Co-founder and VP of Products at Tempo (tempoautomation.com), expounds upon his company’s core belief that innovation can best be achieved by cycling rapidly from the origin point of an idea to its conception and realization. Through the creation of process fluidity, Samala’s mission is to make it possible for engineers to explore and realize ideas at a faster pace—to reduce the time gap that begins at design and ends with testing. While simulation is helpful for engineers and designers, the creation time needed for their circuit boards is patently slow, and this is precisely the area that the Tempo co-founder expects to further facilitate. Whereas many prototypes are produced on the high volume manufacturing system that is designed to churn our millions of units, Shashank Samala and his team at Tempo are rethinking this traditional model. Tempo fabricates their boards and sources parts in a matter of days, cutting the time lag down significantly. By retooling the traditional manufacturing model, essentially auto-configuring a factory and optimizing it for low volume by reprogramming automation robots for the new tasks, Samala hopes to revolutionize the prototype process. Tempo’s proprietary automation software creates an intact digital thread that rolls seamlessly from design through delivery. Engineers can upload their design and see real time manufacturing feedback in a matter of minutes, and setup times are decreased as each machine can take its proper manufacturing outputs directly from the design, all within the digital environment. Tempo uses machine learning to precisely predict delivery times, which can greatly enhance engineers’ ability to maximize their work flow. The automation VP states that Tempo’s work has been utilized for a swath of industries including automotive, aerospace, and medical, and that they are proud to play a small role in the development process and path to innovation.