At this year’s SPS in Nuremberg, B&R announced a comprehensive update to its comprehensive suite of engineering and runtime software. With Automation Studio Code, B&R is introducing a completely new engineering experience. It includes a set of advanced editing capabilities based on the latest technologies in the software industry. It supports seamless collaborative engineering thanks to flexible local or cloud-based access. The new environment fully integrates Automation Studio Copilot, a generative AI coding assistant developed in collaboration with Microsoft. Among the many upgrades in the new version, these standout additions promise to dramatically impact the software development experience for machine builders and system integrators.
Improved Engineering Experience in Machine Automation
“Bringing cutting-edge software development to the world of machine automation is essential to keep our customers ahead of the rapid changes in today’s market,” said Florian Schneeberger, chief technology officer at B&R. “With increased productivity thanks to modern development tools and generative AI, and the flexibility of cloud collaboration, we help you speed up development with more agile teamwork and bring innovative machines to market faster.” Adding Automation Studio code adds powerful new engineering capabilities while providing full flexibility to open the same project in a new environment or in the familiar Automation Studio interface. New features include extensive syntax highlighting that makes code easier to read, as well as object-oriented programming in structured text, helping engineers organize their code more logically and work more efficiently. Real-time error detection eliminates the need for repeated compile-fix loops, and the ability to adapt the theme to dark mode helps prevent developer fatigue.
One of the most significant contributions to accelerating machine development is Automation Studio Copilot, an AI companion built into the new coding environment. Copilot enables developers to generate executable machine code by simply entering natural language prompts. It also helps optimize and comment existing code, making it easier to share and reuse. Complex applications can be quickly summarized to facilitate discussion with non-technical stakeholders.
Software Strategy Manager Manuel Sanchez-Marchan describes a typical project flow: Then you can switch to Automation Studio Code to develop and share your application with your team with all the benefits of modern editing, cloud collaboration, and seamless source control. Whether you’re stuck on a tough problem or just want to get your work done faster, Automation Studio Copilot is here to help you every step of the way.”
Automation Studio Code offers a seamless experience for developers, whether they choose to open projects on their desktop or in a web browser. “It’s a lot like the tools we all use to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations,” explains Sanchez-Marchan. “Considering how dramatically those tools have transformed office work, it’s easy to imagine what it means to bring the same level of collaboration to software development processes in the automation industry.”
With teams collaborating in real-time from different locations, topics like source control become more important than ever. “B&R has always been a step ahead with easy source control thanks to the file-based nature of Automation Studio projects,” notes Sanchez-Marchan. “With Automation Studio Code, we’re now taking that a step further. By building source control tasks right into the development environment, we remove distractions and allow developers to focus on their creative work.” Connection of git repositories enables integration of third-party tools like GitHub or Azure DevOps. These version control and collaboration tools make it easy to merge contributions from different team members, keep track of changes, and ensure that everyone is always working from the latest version.
Streamlined development with cloud-based engineering
A cloud-based engineering solution eliminates the need to install the development environment locally. This prevents challenges in version management and dependencies from becoming bottlenecks for team efficiency. Development teams frequently face long hardware lifecycles and multiple tool versions across different machines, adding complexity to their processes. Moreover, IT restrictions on local software management can further hinder productivity, requiring virtual machines or specialized development setups to support different versions of the environment. Cloud-based engineering eliminates these obstacles, streamlining setup and maintenance.
With a project dashboard offering a clear overview of their projects all in one place, engineers can easily see what is in progress and what needs attention. “You spend less time searching for files or trying to remember where you left off, and more time actually developing and refining your code,” says Sanchez-Marchan. Projects can be shared by sending a link – which a teammate or client can open directly in their browser without needing to install any additional software.