The Basics
Learn the key terms and concepts used in Autumn Labs.
This guide defines the essential terms and building blocks you’ll encounter in the Autumn Labs platform. Think of it as your quick-reference glossary for anything you see in our SDK, CLI, and Web App.
Station
A station is an individual physical test or assembly automated robotic cell in your manufacturing floor. Each Station:
- Has a unique identifier (Station ID or secret)
- Maintains its independent "state"
- Can belong to a Station Group
- Will belong to a Line
- Can belong to a Site
- Can track multiple units (products/components) simultaneously
Why it matters: Every time you use commands track_unit_in(), send_station_state(), etc.
you’re doing it for one specific station. If you try to combine stations, the states and unit tracking will
just get all jumbled up and not represent anything meaningful
Station Group
A Station Group is a collection of stations that either perform tasks in parallel or in serial. This often happens when there is one type of station that is duplicated to meet the required takt time.
Why it matters: How you organize your groups will inform the underlying metrics eg. uph and yield. When there are parallel stations in a group, the uph will be added to represent the group's output. Otherwise, The last station in the sequence will be taken into consideration.
IPC
An IPC (Industrial PC) is the local computer where the Autumn Labs client services run. A single IPC can host Client Services for multiple Stations or Station Groups. This acts as a medium to our cloud services.
Why it matters: The IPC acts as the edge node that buffers data, runs health checks, and forwards events to the cloud.
Line
A Line is a collection of Stations and/or Station Groups that work together in a production sequence. Examples:
Why it matters: Lines help you roll up production metrics, specially easy for when you have multiple lines.
Site
A Site is the physical location that houses one or more Lines. Examples include:
- A manufacturing facility
- A test lab
- A production floor
Why it matters: You can add users to the site and share all data collected at that level with your users
Unit
A Unit is a physical product or component being processed by a Station. Each Unit:
- Has a unique serial number (sometimes called an ISN—Individual Serial Number)
- Can be tracked through in and out of stations
- Can have associated metrics (dimensions, weight, test results) and assets (e.g., an image or log file)