Engineers at Caltech have developed a new control algorithm that enables a single drone to herd an entire flock of birds away from the airspace of an airport. The algorithm is presented in a study in IEEE Transactions on Robotics. The project was inspired by the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson,” when US Airways Flight 1549…
Control Your Drone With Your Voice And Gestures
Yuneec has added the Mantis Q drone to its existing line. It features foldable arms, a 33-minute battery, 4K camera and portable controller. Mantis Q also contains facial detection and gesture controls, and will take voice commands to help users keep their thumbs on the sticks, according to New Atlas. Its arms fold in and…
Precision motion control FAQ: What is repeatability? (Part 2)
In this two-part series, we go over the basic definition of types of repeatability and their application in linear motion and actuation applications. Part 2 covers bidirectional repeatability. (Click here for Part 1.) Information courtesy of IntelLiDrives Corp. As noted in Part 1, repeatability can be defined as the variation in results for a series […]
Pocket Radar Launches Smart Coach Radar With Companion App
Pocket Radar, Inc., a company who specializes in accurate speed measurement systems, announced the launch of the Smart Coach Radar. The Smart Coach Radar is a complete speed and video training system that empowers the modern athlete and coach in many sports with the ability to create and share a digital record of their progress. By providing…
Precision motion control FAQ: What is repeatability? (Part 1)
In this two-part series, we go over the basic definition of types of repeatability and their application in linear motion and actuation applications. Part 1 covers unidirectional repeatability. Information courtesy of IntelLiDrives Corp. Effectively automating any industrial operation, test procedure, or prototype process involving motion requires determining the movement precision needed to yield acceptable results. […]
THOR Hovers Like A Helicopter But Can Fly Long-Distance
A team of researchers from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is creating a Transformable Hovering Rotorcraft (THOR) and hopes their design can address the fact that multicopter drones cannot cover long distances, according to New Atlas. THOR is based on a concept from 1913 called the monocopter. Originally, the monocopter was “structurally efficient,”…
Ricocheting Radio Waves Monitor Tiniest Movements In Room
Relief may be on the horizon for anyone who has ever jumped around a room like a jack-in-the-box to get motion-sensing lights to turn back on, thanks to a new motion sensor based on metamaterials that is sensitive enough to monitor a person’s breathing. In a pair of new studies, researchers from Duke University and…
Grayhill announces updated CANbus keypads and MMI Controllers for off-highway vehicles
Grayhill, Inc. announces the release of an exciting line of updated CANbus keypads and MMI Controllers for off-highway vehicles. As the originators of CANbus Keypads and Jog Dial controls intended the Off-Highway marketplace since 2003, Grayhill has developed the new line of CANbus keypads and MMI Controllers especially for agricultural, construction, mining and other large…
Ditch The Joystick? Swiss Develop Jacket That Pilots Drones
Ever dreamt of flying without flapping wings, airplanes, hand-gliders or wing suits — just soaring free over the landscape with arms outstretched like Superman? Thanks to virtual reality and advanced motion sensors, drone pilots can now experience something close to that imaginary sensation. Scientists, engineers and robotics experts at a Swiss university have developed a…
Stepper Motor Paired With Encoder Series Offers All-In-One Motion Control Solution
CUI’s Motion Group announced a new line of stepper motors paired with their AMT11 incremental encoder series. The NEMA‑AMT112S stepper servo motor family is available in compact NEMA 8, 11, 14, 17, and 23 frame sizes with a step angle of 1.8° and holding torques ranging from 3 to 270 oz-in (0.021 to 1.90 N-m). When…
Insect-Inspired Drone Can Deform Upon Impact
In recent years, robotics experts have taken a page from the traditional Japanese practice of origami and come up with light and flexible – and highly innovative – robots and drones. Two types of origami-inspired structures have emerged: rigid structures that have a certain weight-bearing capacity but that break if that capacity is exceeded, and…
A Pac-Man Garbage Eater
Soon, a giant Pac-Man-like design will help “eat up” the ocean’s garbage. The Ocean Cleanup’s trash collecting barriers have gone through many design changes, but now a final version will be taken to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The design harnesses the power of wind and surface waves to autonomously sweep the area of garbage…
How to program a motion controller?
Programming a motion controller is the act of giving a controller the instructions to complete some motion task. The task could be as simple as controlling a single-axis actuator to move a short distance and back again. Or it could be controlling and coordinating the movement of a complex, interconnected multi-axis motion system such as […]
Forget Joysticks, Use Your Torso To Pilot Drones
Imagine piloting a drone using the movements of your torso only and leaving your head free to look around, much like a bird. EPFL research has just shown that using your torso to pilot flying machines is indeed more immersive – and more effective – than using the long-established joystick. The results are published in…
New Unitronics VFD offerings for motion control — integrate with PLC + HMI products
In keeping with a commitment to centralize and streamline industrial automation and control, Unitronics is announcing a new VFD line. Unitronics, the leading experts in the development and manufacture of integrated PLC + HMI controllers, has launched its own line of variable frequency drives (VFDs). With this launch, the manufacturer can better meet customer demand for […]
Taking An Electric Self-Balancing Unicycle For A Ride
Innovator John Dingley has been working on a self-balancing electric unicycle using a brushless motor. Dingley originally created the Lunar Rover unicycle, which was built using a brushed DC electric motor and chain drive. Now, the Mega Hub motor Electric Unicycle is built around a 3,000 W brushless hub motor and has a 17-inch wheel.…
Elmo Motion Control at IMTS: Making smart machines smarter
At IMTS 2018, Elmo Motion Control will showcase its new Double Gold Twitter ultra-small servo drive and its Platinum Maestro motion controller, which controls up to 256 axes. These motion products suit the most demanding applications in the era of Industry 4.0. The new Double Gold Twitter is among the smallest STO-certified (IEC 61800-5-2, SIL-3) […]
Baseball Technology Helps Improve Pitching To Alleviate Injuries
When high school baseball pitchers had frequent injuries from throwing the ball, two researchers started investigating where pain was coming from and why it was happening. “We found that the number of injuries peaked early—only about four weeks in—and then slowly declined until the end of the season,” said James Onate, associate professor of health…
Using Eye Blinks For VR Walking, Presented At SIGGRAPH 2018
In the burgeoning world of virtual reality (VR) technology, it remains a challenge to provide users with a realistic perception of infinite space and natural walking capabilities in the virtual environment. A team of computer scientists has introduced a new approach to address this problem by leveraging a natural human phenomenon: eye blinks. All humans…
Magnetic 3D Printed Structures Crawl, Roll, Jump And Play Catch
MIT engineers have created soft, 3-D-printed structures whose movements can be controlled with a wave of a magnet, much like marionettes without the strings. The menagerie of structures that can be magnetically manipulated includes a smooth ring that wrinkles up, a long tube that squeezes shut, a sheet that folds itself, and a spider-like “grabber”…
Haydon Kerk releases 2018 Linear Motion Catalog and Design Guide
Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions, a business unit of AMETEK® Advanced Motion Solutions, announces the release of its new Catalog and Design Guide, revised for 2018. The new Haydon Kerk catalog has been updated and expanded with new product sections. The new catalog and design guide illustrates a wide range of products engineered for use as…
Free programs with the look of LabVIEW
Free programs that seem to behave like LabVIEW engineering software have become available. Here’s what’s behind the user interface. Leland Teschler, Executive Editor Since 1986, engineers working in test instrumentation have been able to use a program called LabVIEW developed by National Instruments Inc. LabVIEW is well-known for its graphical user interface which lets users…
Spotting Violence From The Sky
Three researchers, Amarjot Singh (University of Cambridge), Devendra Patil (NIT Warangal India), and SN Omkar (IISc Bangalore) are working on the use of a drone and artificial intelligence to spot fighting people in a crowd. Their paper “Eye in the Sky: Real-time Drone Surveillance System (DSS) for Violent Individuals Identification using ScatterNet Hybrid Deep Learning…
Integrated motors from Applied Motion Products enable high-speed motion control
Three new models of StepSERVO Integrated Motors from Applied Motion Products offer cost-effective and high-speed motion control for high throughput applications such as packaging and labeling, automated test and measurement, and automated assembly. With encoder feedback and advanced control loops that incorporate servo control, Applied Motion StepSERVO Integrated Motors provide a cost-effective motion control system […]
Integrated Motors Provide Cost-Effective And High-Speed Motion Control
Applied Motion Products introduces three models of StepSERVO™ Integrated Motors that provide cost-effective and high-speed motion control for high throughput applications such as packaging and labeling, automated test and measurement, and automated assembly. With encoder feedback and advanced control loops that incorporate servo control, Applied Motion StepSERVO Integrated Motors provide a cost-effective motion control system…