Features

LEDs Beware! The Rebirth of the Incandescent Light Bulb

The incandescent light bulb, first commercialized by Thomas Edison in 1879, was a remarkable invention for its day. Edison found that when an electric current was passed through a carbon...

Speech Recognition Interfaces Improve Flight Safety

NASA Technology “Alpha, Golf, November, Echo, Zulu.” “Sierra, Alpha, Golf, Echo, Sierra.” “Lima, Hotel, Yankee.” It looks like some strange word game, but the combinations of words...

Economic Development Done Right

Greek mythology tells of the inventor Daedalus using wings of his own fashioning to escape from imprisonment on the island of Crete. In 1988, a similar adventure was launched, though in this case, carbon-fiber...

Using Multispectral Imaging for Ecological Observations

With an airborne camera capable of making precise and detailed ecological observations, biologists at Applied Ecological Services (Brodhead, WI) are bringing satellite imagery closer to...

USB 3.0: Addressing New Challenges in Machine Vision

Users of machine vision systems often have one common goal in mind: increasing system efficiency. Greater efficiency translates into high productivity. On the factory floor, higher speed in...

The Eyes of the Mars Curiosity Rover

On August 6, 2012, the Mars Curiosity rover successfully landed on the floor of Gale Crater on Mars. The Curiosity rover is about the size of a small SUV — 10 feet (3 meters) long, not including the arm, 9...

Transitioning Application Platforms to Sandy Bridge

Intel’s new Sandy Bridge microarchitecture is changing how software applications run and perform on server platforms. In order for applications to tap the full power of these new devices,...

Strong-ARMing The Market

Embedded market applications have entered a new era thanks to extensive software support as well as the shrinking of borders between different processor technologies enabling the software ecosystem to expand to...

Product of the Month

MathWorks, Natick, MA, has introduced Release 2012b with updates to MATLAB and Simulink environments for technical computing, and simulation and design, respectively. The new release includes a redesigned help system with...

Factors to Consider When Selecting and Specifying LVDT Linear Position Sensors

Fitting the right type of linear position sensor to an application requires at least a working knowledge of the attributes of this electromechanical device. Starting...

Connectors Enable Precise Movement of Lunar Robotic Tool Changer

NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA hired Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corp. to develop a totally mechanical tool changer for the end of what Langley’s...

CNC Machine Controllers

B&R Industrial Automation Corp. (Roswell, GA) offers standardized system modules for CNC machines. Consisting of hardware components, all necessary software functions, and available simulation options, the software...

Automation Control Platform

GE Intelligent Platforms (Charlottesville, VA) has announced the PACSystems® control and computing platform designed for the industrial Internet. It incorporates COM Express architecture with multi-core CPUs. The...

Harmonic Gearhead

Nexen Group (Vadnais Heights, MN) has announced a harmonic gearhead that directly replaces much larger, high-ratio planetary gearheads utilizing the latest harmonic strain wave gearing technology. In addition to its compact...

Helical Gearbox

GAM Gear (Mt. Prospect, IL) has introduced the SPH series inline planetary gearbox featuring helical gearing. It is designed for dynamic and cyclic motion control applications, and can be optimized for high-speed and...

Microstepping Drive

Servo2Go.com (Greenville, DE) offers Applied Motion Products’ STR2 stepper drive, a compact, digital step and direction drive for applications requiring basic step and direction control of a 2-phase step motor. The drive...

Position Sensor

Honeywell (Minneapolis, MN) offers the SMART rotary configuration position sensor that provides 360° non-contact angular position sensing. The sensor enables users to replace an optical encoder, or to utilize a sensor instead...

Positioning Stages

Rollon (Hackettstown, NJ) has in - troduced the Actuatorline TT series of high-precision linear positioning stages. Available in a range of sizes and configurations, the stages are suited for use in robotic handling systems,...

Linear Guides

Lee Linear (Piscataway, NJ) offers the SBC Linear Profile SBI linear guide system that uses a low profile and wide base design for less noise, less vibration, and increased life over caged ball assemblies. The extra load capacity,...

Robotics Simulation Software

Siemens PLM Software (Plano, TX) has introduced RobotExpert software for robotics simulation and programming. The software enables the design, simulation, optimization, and offline programming of robotic...

Linear Shaft Supports

The SBL and LPB series of linear shaft supports from Ondrives.US Corp. (Freeport, NY) feature removable top clamps that enable easy removal of shafts and permit reassembly without upsetting the critical alignment between...

Speed Controls

Four controls from Bodine Electric (Northfield, IL) provide speed control for low-voltage 12 or 24V permanent magnet DC (PMDC) gearmotors and motors (up to 1/3 HP/250 Watts). The controls utilize pulse width modulation (PWM)...

Linear Motion Platform

PBC Linear®, a Pacific Bearing Company (Roscoe, IL) has introduced the SIMO® Series linear motion platform. Options allow a design engineer to meet multiple application requirements with a single platform. Options...

DC Micromotors

Pittman® Motors, a division of AMETEK/Precision Motion Control (Harleysville, PA), offers high-performance slotless brushless DC motors for medical applications such as high-speed surgical tools, dental tools, medical...

Drives

Danfoss VLT Drives (Loves Park, IL) has introduced D-Frame VLT® drives available in a power range from 125-450 HP (90-315 kW). They leverage back channel cooling to remove 90% of the heat generated by the drive. The drives are available...

Motor Drive Transistors

International Rectifier (El Segundo, CA) has introduced a family of 600V insulatedgate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) for motor drive applications operating below 10 kHz, including compressors for refrigerators and...

Motion and Automation Control

Kollmorgen (Radford, VA) offers the AKD PDMM that combines a multi-axis motion controller, IEC61131-3 soft PLC, EtherCAT® master, and AKD® servo drive in a single, compact package. The system is suited for...

Rod-Style Actuators

ERD electric cylinders from Tolomatic (Hamel, MN) are available with a reverseparallel motor mount that makes a more compact package. The motor is mounted in parallel with the actuator instead of inline, which reduces the...

Linear Positioning Stages

Mini-MAG precision linear positioning stages from Dover (Boxborough, MA) are available with a complete controls package. Users can combine a Mini-MAG linear motor stage with a board-level, single-axis servo drive for...