EDGE Awards 2026 Winners And Honorees
Congratulations to the standout product innovations driving progress in engineering this past year.
Automation World is proud to reveal the winners of the 2026 EDGE Awards, celebrating pioneers and innovation in design and engineering, as chosen by readers like you.
Automation World, along with affiliate brands Power & Motion, Electronic Design, Microwaves & RF, Machine Design, Control Design and Control, helped select this year’s winners and honorees in 10 categories as well as an overall Leading EDGE Winner, recognizing the innovation with the most votes.
Below are winners and honorees by category; winners receive a physical award honoring their achievement in the 2026 EDGE Awards. Congrats to all nominees and winners...you are truly working at the EDGE of automation!
Congratulations to our leading EDGE Award winner:
Microchip Technology Inc.'s Micro Switchtec Gen 6 PCIe Switches
Communications & Networks
Wireless and wired systems, modules, and software that facilitate communication between chips, modules, and systems, including I/O modules, cloud communications.
Leading EDGE Winner:
Winner:
Semtech LoRa Plus LR2021 Fourth-generation LoRa IP
Honorees:
Cabling & Enclosures
Hardware meant to hold controls and electronics as well as monitor the temperature, pressure, humidity, etc. inside the enclosure, such as terminal blocks and cabinet coolers.
Winner:
Rockwell Automation - EtherNet/IP In-Cabinet Solution
Honorees:
Computing Hardware, Software and Systems
Edge computing devices and interfaces, as well as associated compute, storage, design, and analysis systems.
Winner:
Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 storage accelerators
Honorees:
Design Tools & Software
EDA, CAD, CAM, CAE, Digital Twin, modeling and simulation software as well as application tools and operating systems to assist the design engineer. This category also includes IDEs, compilers and middleware.
Winner:
Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Design Workbench
Honorees:
Electronic Components
Passive electronic components like capacitors, transistors or diodes, connectors, cables, antennas, and switches.
Winner:
EC2005P, EC2025P and EC2006P ECAPs – Silicon Capacitors from Empower Semiconductor
Honorees:
Industrial Controllers
PLCs, PACs, IPCs.
Winner:
Rockwell Automation ControlLogix 5590 controller
Honorees:
Machine Vision and Optical Components & Systems
This category includes adaptive optics, optical materials, coatings, precision optics, micro-optics, lenses, mirrors, aspheres, prisms, and freeform optics. This category also considers lighting products for machine vision applications, cameras, sensors, lenses, filters, lighting, frame grabbers, software, and systems.
Winner:
Marvell COLORZ 1600 2nm 1.6T ZR/ZR+ Pluggable Optical Platform
Honorees:
Motion Control Components
Pneumatic, hydraulic, and electric motion control components and systems, including actuators, cylinders, ball screws, motors and drives, and accessories such as fasteners, bearings, gears, belts, and chains, as well as fluids, filters, and compressed air systems.
Winner:
IO-Link Compatible Air Management System: AMS-X2044/X2045 from SMC Corporation
Honorees:
Production Tools and Systems
This category includes creation of chips, printed circuit boards, components and systems as well as all mechanical and machine tool operations, welding, soldering, and adhesives focused on metal or component joining as well as materials used to fasten and secure components.
Winner:
Wiferion - CW1000 Contactless 1 kW Inductive Charging System
Honorees:
Test, Measurement, Sensors and Software
Test and measurement equipment and sensors that measure things including electrical, photons, speed, temperature, vibration, positioning, dimensional accuracy, defect detection and other operational parameters, as well as the software needed to effectively analyze the sensor data.
Winner:
REF81 buried Zener precision voltage reference from Texas Instruments
Honorees:
