Motion Control

INSIDER: Imaging

Nissan Tests NASA Technology in Driverless Car

For the past year, NASA’s Ames Research Center and Nissan have been collaborating on the development of autonomous driving technologies that could one day be used in future consumer vehicles,...

INSIDER: Motion Control

Nano-Submarine Motors Powered by Light

Each of the single-molecule, 244-atom submersibles built at Rice University has a motor powered by ultraviolet light. With each full revolution, the motor’s tail-like propeller moves the sub...

INSIDER: Medical

Wearable Equipment Supports Human Motion

The Unplugged Powered Suit (UPS), a new model of pneumatic muscle and an active type of assistive equipment incorporating the muscle, is wearable equipment that supports human movement without...

Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control

Choosing the Right Potentiometer for Reliable Sensing

A potentiometer sensor is an electromechanical component that consists of a resistor where the voltage divider value can be measured at any position by means of sliding contacts between...

Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Embedded Virtualization Enables Highly Integrated “Soft Motion” Platforms on the PC

With the increased processing power that PCs have attained, a complex machine that used to require an expensive and dedicated hardware-based motion...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Sonic Tractor Beams Lift and Move Objects Using Sound Waves

Tractor beams are mysterious rays that can grab and lift objects. Now, researchers have built a working tractor beam that uses high-amplitude sound waves to generate an acoustic...

INSIDER: Aerospace

Positioning Systems Improve Airport Logistics

Tow tractors, pushback tractors, tankers, luggage carts, air cargo, and catering vehicles crowd airport aprons. Poor weather conditions impede work on the apron even more. Researchers at the...

INSIDER: Motion Control

Tiny Carbon-Capturing Motors Could Clean up Carbon Dioxide Pollution

Machines that are much smaller than the width of a human hair could one day help clean up carbon dioxide pollution in the oceans. Nanoengineers at the University of...

News: Transportation

Autonomous DeLorean Guides Development of Self-Driving Electric Cars

Stanford engineers built an autonomous DeLorean capable of stable, precise drifting at large angles in order to study how cars perform in extreme situations, which could...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Mapping Human Movement to Improve Rehabilitative Robotics

The Biomechatronics Group at MIT is using a data-driven approach to study the mechanics and control of human walking, with the goal of applying the findings to hardware control. PhD...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Nanoclutch Transmits Torque at Small Scales

When driving a car, the clutch mechanically carries the torque produced by the engine to the chassis of the vehicle – a coupling that has long been tested and optimized in such macroscopic...

INSIDER: Propulsion

NASA’s Green Propellant Spacecraft Moves Toward Launch

The propulsion subsystem for NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) has been integrated onto the spacecraft, moving the mission another major step toward scheduled launch in...

Articles: Motion Control

Imitative Robotic Control: The Puppet Master

Application Briefs: Motion Control

Service Robots Use Flat Motors to Provide Reliable, Safe Motion

Unlike industrial robots for manufacturing, service robots come with their own specification requirements aimed specifically at the end user, and the most discriminating user at...

Application Briefs: Motion Control

Encoders Ensure Position Accuracy of Linear-Torsion Tester

Instron (Norwood, MA) manufactures materials testing equipment and accessories that are used to test samples ranging from components for jet engines to medical syringes. The...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Piezo Drive

The Ensemble QDe™ desktop nanopositioning piezo drive from Aerotech (Pittsburgh, PA) was designed for seamless use with the Ensemble family of drives and controllers. The QDe connects to any Ensemble controller network,...

Products: Motion Control

Linear Stage

Bell-Everman (Goleta, CA) offers the SLS Light sealed linear stage that keeps contamination such as manufacturing debris, particulate, or liquid contaminants outside of the stage housing. The stage measures 80 x 120 mm, and has...

Products: Motion Control

Position and Angle Measurement

The BML series from Balluff (Florence, KY) offers absolute position and angle measurement for installation or direct integration into drive and positioning systems. The magnetically encoded systems with...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Linear Guide System

PBC Linear (Roscoe, IL) released the Compact Series low-profile linear guide system for repeatable linear motion in tight spaces. The system features a 23-mm standard height, and can be configured to adapt to specific...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Linear Encoder

MICRONOR (Newbury Park, CA) introduced the MR303 linear position sensor system for OEM motion control applications. With 100-μm resolution and 50-μm accuracy, the encoder is suitable for medical, MRI, robotic, and industrial...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Rotary Encoders

POSITAL (Hamilton, NJ) released programmable incremental rotary encoders, enabling performance characteristics such as resolution (number of pulses per turn) and incremental pulse direction (A before B or B before A) to be...

Products: Motion Control

PWM Servo Drives

ACS Motion Control (Bloomington, MN) offers the NPMPM Series of dualaxis EtherCAT NanoPWM™ pulse width modulation servo drives. When utilized with the optional 10-MHz laser encoder interface and ServoBoost™ control...

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

Brushless DC Motors

PITTMAN® Motors, a business unit of AMETEK Precision Motion Control (Harleysville, PA), introduced the EC042B brushless DC motor series. The high-torque-density model is designed as a general-purpose servomotor. Its NEMA...

Products: Motion Control

Drives

NORD Gear Corp. (Waunakee, WI) offers the SK 180E drives for applications that do not utilize the scope of functionality found in frequency inverters. The drives focus on the functionality necessary for pumps and conveyor technology....

INSIDER: Motion Control

Fluidic Actuator Harnesses Instability to Trigger Movement

Soft machines and robots are becoming more and more functional, capable of moving, jumping, gripping an object, and even changing color. The elements responsible for their actuation...

INSIDER: Motion Control

New Approach Gives Robotic Grippers More Dexterity

Most robots on a factory floor are equipped with large pincers or claws to grab an object and place it somewhere else in an assembly line. Engineers at MIT have now hit upon a way to impart...

INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Recycling Electric Motor Permanent Magnets

The latest generation of electric motors is increasingly being equipped with strong, multi-ton permanent magnets instead of a gearbox. The most powerful magnets are based on neodymium,...