Siemens Energy & Automation Inc. has announced details surrounding the U.S. leg of the company’s “exiderdome” world tour. exiderdome, a traveling technology expo and learning laboratory, will begin its tour of the U.S. in Chicago on July 21.

Alternatively called “The World of Automation,” exiderdome’s nearly 10,000 square feet of total space is designed to showcase Siemens’ automation technologies for the manufacturing and industrial facilities markets. exiderdome consists of 55 international standard shipping containers arranged in a two-story building that is about 50 yards long. It includes eight product venues, conference rooms, an executive lounge, and a central atrium that can be used for receptions, training sessions, and multimedia presentations.

According to Siemens, exiderdome’s seven product containers display 137,000 Siemens products and technologies in the areas of commercial and industrial power infrastructure, industrial controls, drives and motors, motion control, discrete automation, and process automation. An eighth container features a global overview of Siemens technologies.

Siemens says it expects more than 9,000 visitors to exiderdome during its nine stops in major U.S. manufacturing centers between July 2008 and May 2009. exiderdome will visit Chicago (July 21-25); Detroit (Aug. 8-15); Boston (Oct. 18-23); New York (Nov. 1-7); Charlotte (Dec. 8-12); Orlando (Feb. 2-6, 2009); Los Angeles (March 5-11, 2009); Denver (April 6-10, 2009); and Houston (May 4-8, 2009). Canadian cities to be visited include: Calgary (June 10-13); Toronto (Aug. 25-29); Montreal (Sept. 8-12); Quebec City (Sept. 23-24); and Halifax (Oct. 6-7).

After arrival in the U.S., exiderdome will be assembled on an ocean-going barge for its U.S. debut in Chicago at Navy Pier. It will then sail to its next three U.S. stops plus four Canadian cities along the St. Lawrence Seaway. To reach its final five U.S. destinations, exiderdome will be transferred to a convoy of 55 tractor trailers.

exiderdome was first launched in 2005 with a tour that stretched into 2006, visiting China twice as well as South Korea and Thailand before moving on to Russia and Taiwan in 2007.