Mouser Electronics and STMicroelectronics have released a new eBook examining the rise of smart factories and the role of artificial intelligence in modern manufacturing.
Titled Autonomy Meets Intelligence: Enabling the Future of Factory Automation, the publication draws on insights from ten industry experts to explore how AI and machine learning are reshaping production lines. By enabling robots to perceive their surroundings, recognise patterns, and make decisions in real time, these technologies promise to make factories faster, safer, and more adaptable.
The eBook also showcases STMicroelectronics’ latest hardware for industrial automation. The STM32N6 microcontrollers, available through Mouser, feature ST’s Neural-ART Accelerator for embedded inference, delivering 600 times the machine-learning performance of previous STM32 devices. They support computer vision, audio processing, and edge applications, leveraging a Cortex-M55 core running at 800 MHz, 4.2 MB of embedded RAM, a NeoChrom GPU, an H.264 encoder, and the Helium M-Profile Vector Extension.
ST’s ISM330BX 6-axis inertial measurement unit combines advanced sensor fusion, in-sensor AI computing, and electrostatic sensing, enabling high-accuracy positioning and human–machine interface capabilities at low power consumption. The VL53L8CH time-of-flight sensor offers multizone depth sensing and motion detection for AI-driven applications, with immunity to environmental interference and over 60 cm crosstalk resistance.
For prototyping automation systems, the X-STM32MP-RBT01 microcontroller expansion board supports four DC motors through dual STSPIN948 motor drivers and integrates a range of sensors, including accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, pressure sensors, and an 8×8 multizone ToF sensor.
The eBook situates these technologies within the Industry 4.0 and emerging Industry 5.0 frameworks, highlighting how connectivity, sensing, and intelligence are transforming industrial environments.
