HeyJaredThe Automation Navigator - Sean Dotson
The Automation Navigator explores the evolving world of automation, robotics, packaging, AI, economics, and leadership. Drawing on decades of experience in industrial automation, it offers practical insights and clear thinking to help operators, engineers
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
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- Sep 3, 2026
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- Jul 3, 2026
Latest issues
The Best AI Project in Your Factory Might Be Boring (opens the original)
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AI is everywhere right now, and depending on who you listen to, it is going to replace half your employees, redesign your products, run your factory, answer your phones, write all your software and probably figure out why the printer on the second floor still says “PC LOAD LETTER” (anyone younger than 30 ask your older co-workers). Every software company now has an AI strategy, every product apparently has an AI feature, and every consultant has a presentation explaining why your company is abou
Automation Navigator Feedback (opens the original)
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I hope you will do me a favor and answer this quick survey about The Automation Navigator. It’ll help me fine tune the site to bring you more of the content you want to see (and less of what you don’t). Should take less than 60 seconds.. Thanks!https://automationnavigator.substack.com/survey/8993245<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vI_4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2
Your Robot Is Not “Physical AI” (opens the original)
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A robot picks up a stamped metal part, places it in a fixture, and waits for a proximity switch to confirm that the part is seated. Another robot welds it. A camera checks the bead. If the inspection fails, the machine rejects the assembly.Twenty years ago, we called this industrial automation.Today, someone will stand beside the same cell, add the words “physical AI” to a PowerPoint slide, and wait for the valuation to jump to $1B.I have watched these machines become faster, safer, easier to pr
The Next Breakthrough in Automation: Ease of Use (opens the original)
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People often ask me what the next big breakthrough in automation will be. They expect an answer involving AI, humanoid robots, foundation models, or some other technology that will appear at a trade show with a glowing demo and a press release full of verbs.I usually disappoint them. The next big breakthrough in automation is ease of use.For automation to really take off, it cannot remain in the hands of a select few integrators who have spent 10 or 20 years learning every strange language, soft
Terafab: When Ambition Collides with Reality (opens the original)
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One of the mistakes people make when discussing Elon Musk is treating every announcement as either inevitable genius or complete fantasy. The reality is considerably more complicated. Over the past two decades he has accomplished things that many experts genuinely believed couldn’t be done, from turning SpaceX into the world’s dominant launch provider to proving that electric vehicles could become a mass-market product. He’s earned respect for some of his business decisions. However the same can
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