Smart Automation: AI, Imaging, and Your Digital Transformation

Amar Dhaliwal, General Manager Automotive Systems Group, FANUC America

Amar Dhaliwal is the General Manager of the Automation Systems Group (ASG) at FANUC America, where he leads a team of more than 150 engineering professionals delivering advanced, turn key industrial automation solutions across multiple industries. In this role, he oversees full P&L responsibility, drives strategic sales initiatives, and ensures exceptional customer experience across ASG’s portfolio of innovative automation systems.

A 20-year-plus veteran at FANUC America, Amar has built a distinguished career advancing complex automation technologies and engineering excellence. Prior to his current role, he served as Director of Software & Controls Engineering and previously as Manager of Software and Controls Engineering, collectively spending nearly two decades shaping FANUC’s software, controls and systems engineering capabilities.

Amar is based in the Detroit metropolitan area and is recognized for his leadership in high performance engineering environments, cross functional technical strategy, and large scale automation project execution.

Eric Hershberger, Principal Applications Engineer, Cognex Corporation

Over 25 years of machine vision integration and application experience. I program robots, plc's and of course cameras. I know a few tips and tricks to make life easier for those difficult to solve vision projects that never have a good solution. I spend more time figuring how to simplify the solution to make the support of the application easier. I love a tough problem to challenge me and being able to come up with a neat solution always makes me happy.

Daniel Howe, Regional Development Manager, LMI Technologies

Based in the greater Detroit Michigan area, Daniel Howe is the Regional Business Development Manager for the Americas region at LMI Technologies where he leads a team of experts that provide advanced solutions in the area of machine vision.

Daniel has over 25 years of experience in high-precision vision technology, he and his team of experienced engineers deploy 2D and 3D hardware, measurement software including machine learning and high-level technical services to solve applications for inspection, process optimization and robotic guidance.

Sabrina Joos, Director, Program & Lifecycle Management for New Systems, Siemens

Sabrina Joos is Director of Program & Lifecycle Management for New Systems, Americas at Siemens, where she leads the development and scaling of next-generation industrial automation and AI-driven manufacturing systems. She specializes in bridging customer discovery, forward deployment engineering, and lifecycle governance to turn complex, cutting-edge technologies into repeatable, scalable solutions on the shopfloor. She is highly passionate about making innovation executable and deeply believes that every great innovation starts by working side-by-side with users and ends with measurable impact on the shopfloor—because the true test of innovation is whether users trust it enough to run production on it.

Robert Huschka, VP of Education Strategies, Association for Advancing Automation (A3)

Robert Huschka is the Vice President of Education Strategies at the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), where he leads the development of educational programs and identifies emerging technology trends to integrate into A3's offerings. Before joining A3 in January 2018, Huschka spent 18 years at the Detroit Free Press, including serving as Executive Editor, where he was recognized for his expertise in audience growth, community building, and content strategy. He holds a degree from the University of North Dakota.