This is an unofficial video, it is not produced by Beckhoff. Check their official YouTube channel for their official content: https://www.youtube.com/@BeckhoffAutomation/videos
Beckhoff Automation presents a coherent vision of PC-based control where robotics, motion, I/O, vision and HMI are all driven from a unified EtherCAT and TwinCAT architecture rather than fragmented controllers. In this tour we see how standardized industrial PCs, multi-core CPUs and real-time software runtimes replace traditional black-box robots and proprietary PLC islands, giving machine builders a configurable automation toolkit for everything from compact machines to large production lines. https://www.beckhoff.com/en-en/products/motion/atro-automation-technology-for-robotics/
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A central focus of the video is ATRO, Beckhoff’s modular industrial robot system, built from motor modules with integrated EtherCAT servo drives and safety plus passive link modules in various geometries and lengths. Customers assemble their own 4- to 6-axis or palletizing kinematics like Lego, tuning payload and reach by simply choosing different link modules rather than buying a new robot family. Internal routing for power, communication and compressed air eliminates external cable loops and enables endless rotation on every axis, so trajectories can take the shortest path and increase throughput. ATRO is fully integrated into TwinCAT, so the “robot controller” becomes just another real-time software task on the existing IPC instead of a separate hardware cabinet.
Beyond robotics, the tour shows Beckhoff’s mechatronic transport platforms, including the planar motor system used in their own IO-terminal production for low-volume “long tail” variants, and the XTS eXtended Transport System where independently controlled movers glide on an EtherCAT-driven stator track of power-electronics coils and permanent magnets. This allows highly flexible product handling, shorter machine footprints and individualized motion profiles per workpiece instead of rigid indexing conveyors. The interview, filmed at SPS Nuremberg 2025, underlines how such intelligent transport is now a core design element in packaging, pharma and general machinery rather than a niche option in experimental layouts.
Another key topic is cabinet-free automation with the MX-System, where sealed IP67 baseplates distribute power and communication to plug-in function modules that replace large parts of a traditional control cabinet. ([Beckhoff Automation][3]) Industrial PCs, power supplies, drives and I/O become modular building blocks that mount directly on the machine, cutting long cable runs and enabling commissioning in hours instead of days. Because many classic cabinet functions are combined into smart modules, users reduce component count and simplify spare-part strategies, while QR/data-matrix codes and app-based diagnostics make fault-finding accessible even for non-electricians, improving overall maintainability.
Beckhoff highlights how TwinCAT runs on Windows, Linux or BSD-based industrial PCs, supports containerized runtimes and can host multiple independent TwinCAT instances on one IPC to match modular machine segments. AI and machine learning are tightly coupled, with tools that automate neural-network training and deploy inference models directly in the real-time context, alongside integrated TwinCAT Vision with Beckhoff cameras, optics and illumination for end-of-line inspection. TwinCAT Core Boost then adds per-core turbo control, overclocking selected real-time or user-mode cores by up to around 50% to squeeze more deterministic performance out of standard Intel®/AMD multi-core CPUs and sometimes even step down to smaller processors, reducing hardware costs while keeping control performance ready for future workloads.
I publish about 50+ videos from SPS Nuremberg 2025 in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7xXqJFxvYvgeW6Uf8MIlo7hpxuysbiCc
