The world of consumer electronics migrates on at the speed of Moore’s Law. Cost and performance have been increasing uniformly for the last 20 years. The cellphone in…
Double C-face Coupler Brake Reduces Costs
Double C-face coupler brake mounts on drive end of standard C-face motor brake between reducer and C-face motor. It replaces commonly used motor brakes mounted on back of a special motor designed with mounting flange and extended shaft on fan end. Simplify inventory and reduce costs by eliminating purchase and stock of brake and standard…
Robot handles complex palletizing configurations
Save money, save time, cut costs—these are the goals material handling companies strive to meet with robotic palletizing systems. One of the newer examples is the space-saving BEUMER robotpac, a fully automatic articulated robot that can solve complex palletizing and de-palletizing challenges reliably and efficiently. Containers such as bags, cardboard boxes, crates or trays can…
M is for Motion Control
During the last decade or so the controls industry has adopted the term “Mechatronics” as a replacement for the previously used phrase “motion control”. I will respectfully break with the current trend and suggest that motion control is the proper term because it better defines the field of knowledge. For one thing, the term […]
Feedback
In the past I would have said I was more familiar with the kind of feedback that came from an electric guitar and amplifier. Lately I have become more familiar with the kind that shows up on servomotors and linear feedback on actuators. Feedback technology has become more sophisticated and some vendors like Timken Motion […]
Design World Announces Winners of Sixth Annual “Leadership in Engineering” Program
Design World Magazine and online network www.designworldonline.com announce the winners of their 2012 Leadership in Engineering Program. Leadership in Engineering is an industry recognition program to acknowledge engineering leadership across several disciplines. Winners for the Sixth Annual Program were chosen by Design World online users via a registration based online voting system. The following companies…
Toshiba Machine Adds THL SCARA Robot
New to Toshiba Machine’s THL Series line, the THL300 and THL400 offer increased payload capacities. In fact, with arm lengths of 300mm and 400mm respectively, these new THL robots fall into the class of small SCARA robots, while they boast the maximum payload capacity (5kg) in their class. Like all THL Series robots, the newer…
A Helping Hand for Hospital Staff
by Steve Meyer, Contributing Editor Mechatronic challenges come in some interesting packages. One such test, within the field of medicine, is finding an easier way to move hospital patients who cannot move themselves. In the past, patient transfer, as it is referred to in the healthcare industry, has been a mix of back boards, lifts,…
Electric Motors
Electric motors are central to the industrial age. They are literally the replacement technology for the “work horse” of the 19th century. Which is probably where the term “work horse” came from in the first place. And when it comes to units of measure, we think about the electric motor in terms of horsepower. […]
New Era Manufacturing
We stand at a cross roads that many people may be unaware of. The world of manufacturing as we know it is about to change. This claim has been made by others in The misperception is partly due to the fact that the rate of change in industry is very slow. In a global economic […]
Next Generation of Control
The thing that programmable controllers don’t typically do well is manage data. This is primarily because the memory is organized to serve the control programming environment and not designed for data applications. Separate memory must be allocated and the transactions necessary to interact with memory must be coded. This means a lot of overhead and […]
Coordinated Motion
An occasional topic of conversation in the control industry is understanding what is meant by coordinated motion. The topic is fairly ambiguous since we have many examples of complex pieces of machinery with high axis counts and which definitely give the impression of coordinated motion. The illusion of coordination is based on the fact that […]
Molex Launches QuickConnect and Fast Start Up Features for Industrial Robotics at Pack Expo 2012
Molex Incorporated introduces the QuickConnect and Fast Start Up capabilities of Brad® HarshIO modules at Pack Expo International, October 28 – 31, Chicago, IL, Molex booth S2957. The QuickConnect feature is designed for use with Ethernet/IP protocol products and the Fast Start Up capability is designed for use with PROFINET protocol products that are part…
MISUMI LX and RS Series Single Axis Actuators Provide Versatility, Precision And Productivity
MISUMI USA, Inc. offers an array of single axis actuators available for machine builders and automation system designers across a wide range of industries. Two main product lines include the LX Series and RS Single Axis Robotic Actuators, both designed to reduce design/build time and costs for manufacturers of production machinery, automation systems and motion…
Mitsubishi Electric Automation Introduces Ceiling-mounted SCARA Robot
Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. has released its new RH-3SxHR robot that delivers improved throughput, superior positioning and a smaller footprint. The RH-3SxHR is a ceiling-mounted SCARA robot designed to maximize speed for picking and handling light-weight parts. The RH-3SxHR extends Mitsubishi Electric Automation’s broad line of SCARA robots ranging from 3Kg-20Kg. Easy to install, this…
Machines & Making Money
I stumbled on some amazing videos of advanced machine tool centers at the European Machine Tool show in 2011. These machining centers were demonstrating some very high performance software called hyperMill developed by Daishin Seiki of Japan. The company’s website is in Japanese, but you will find some high profile video on YouTube, and it […]
Machines & Making Money
I stumbled on some amazing videos of advanced machine tool centers at the European Machine Tool show in 2011. These machining centers were demonstrating some very high performance software called hyperMill developed by Daishin Seiki of Japan. The company’s website is in Japanese, but you will find some high profile video on YouTube, and it […]
igus® sponsors 20th annual BEST Robotics Competition
The 20th annual BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics Competition has kicked off at hub locations nationwide. This is the eighth year for igus® as a nationwide product sponsor of the event. The 2012 game, entitled “WARP XX”, was unveiled a few months ago as a teaser for more than 1,000 competing teams. WARP…
Siemens To Demonstrate Kuka Robotics Integration For Workpiece Handling
At this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, Siemens will demonstrate its recent collaboration with KUKA Robotics. In the Siemens booth E-5010, a KUKA robot will be articulating parts, simulating the operation on a CNC machine tool. Key to this development is the machine builder’s ability to integrate mxAutomation from KUKA directly through…
I.T. Plus Control means Profits
Information Technology (IT) departments are expected to have a dramatic impact on the companies they work for. Worldwide spending for IT is expected to be approximately $2.7 trillion. Across 12 departments of the US government IT spending was just over $50 Billion. Yes, that’s billion with a “b” and it’s your tax dollars and […]
I.T. Plus Control means Profits
Information Technology (IT) departments are expected to have a dramatic impact on the companies they work for. Worldwide spending for IT is expected to be approximately $2.7 trillion. Across 12 departments of the US government IT spending was just over $50 Billion. Yes, that’s billion with a “b” and it’s your tax dollars and […]
Gearmotors Ensure Builders Get Their Ore
By Leslie Langnau, Managing Editor The French Group, Pradier, produces 400,000 tons of concrete blocks and interjoists per year, which are intended for building material suppliers. The quarry consists of a deposit of about 375 acres and 20 million tons of ore, with a mining permit for 450,000 tons per year over 30 years. About 350,000…
Tech Shop Comes to Town
I had read about Tech Shop in the trade press a few months ago. This is a great new concept in bringing the tooling necessary to turn any new idea into a functioning prototype. That functioning prototype can be converted into a volume manufacturable product. That product, depending on level of complexity, can be used […]
Rexroth EasyHandling brochure describes approach to designing and implementing handling systems
Bosch Rexroth has published a brochure describing the EasyHandling solution, a comprehensive platform of components, drives and engineering software. Rexroth’s EasyHandling system is more than a modular set of mechanical components, it completes the evolutionary transition from high-quality electrical and mechanical elements to a comprehensive system solution built on standardized interfaces and interoperable controls. The brochure […]
No single way to program control systems: Hardware and software considerations
There has never been a single answer to the question of how we program control systems. This is because people write control programs that are designed to run on processors which are programmed by other people. Invariably personal preferences and subjective evaluations of what is important, what is necessary, what is preferable in the creation […]