Motion Control

Hibiscus: New Possibilities in Satellite Thermal Imaging

When Hibiscus is sent into orbit at the end of 2026, it will open new possibilities to combat global warming and increase heat efficiency for urban planners.

How Much Do You Know About Pneumatic Valves?

Determining how much and in which direction air passes through, pneumatic valves play an important role in any pneumatic system. How much do you know about pneumatic valves? Find out with this quiz.

Advanced Motion Control Components for Critical Aerospace Applications

Using higher-quality, custom-engineered motion control components provides significant advantages for aerospace manufacturers. Whether through advanced gas springs, precision dampers, or electric linear actuators, the right components ensure that equipment will operate smoothly and reliably for the expected lifespan, while meeting the rigorous standards of modern aerospace. Read on to learn more.

Faster Wire Connection Technology Generates Quantifiable Savings

Today, there is innovative conductor terminating technology, known as SNAP IN technology, that allows for the fastest wiring connections to date. Read on to best understand the advantages that SNAP IN technology brings to motion control systems.

New Products

See the new products, including Bosch Rexroth’s space-optimized SMS screw-driven small modules; the updated capabilities of PI's PICMA® piezo stack actuator series via the introduction of the new PICMA® Plus actuators; Beckhoff's expanded MX-System control cabinet-free automation platform; and more.

A Soft Robot Can Carry Loads Through the Air

Researchers have created a light-powered soft robot that can carry loads through the air along established tracks, similar to cable cars or aerial trams. The soft robot operates autonomously, can climb slopes at angles of up to 80°, and can carry loads up to 12 times its weight. Read on to learn more.

Automated Pallet Inspection Separates the Good from the Bad

To make pallet inspecting easier and more efficient, COOP automated the process with industrial robots from KUKA Robotics and an advanced pallet inspection system powered by artificial intelligence (AI) from KUKA System Partner IVISYS called PALLETAI. Read on to learn more.

Retrofit in Industrial Production: Digitization of Existing Systems

Retrofitting offers a technically and economically sensible way to adapt existing production facilities to the requirements of modern manufacturing processes. The use of image processing, measurement technology, and deep learning in existing machines and systems can be decisive in this context. Read on to learn more.

Robots React to Danger Like Humans

In the midst of the co-development of artificial intelligence and robotic advancements, developing technologies that enable robots to efficiently perceive and respond to their surroundings like humans has...

Teaching Robots to Build Without Blueprints

Unlike human manufacturing, the grand designs of bees, ants, and termites emerge simply from their collective action with no central planning required. Now, researchers at Penn’s School of...

Simulation-Based Pipeline Tailors Training Data for Dexterous Robots

When ChatGPT or Gemini give what seems to be an expert response to your burning questions, you may not realize how much information it relies on to give that reply. Like...

Autonomous Structures Can Be Programmed to Jump Days in Advance

Researchers have created dynamic structures that leap into the air on a predetermined schedule without intervention from computers or external stimuli. Precisely when these...

Medical Crash Cart Goes Robotic

Medical crash carts — stocked with medications, syringes, gauze, and IV fluids — are essential tools in emergency rooms, where seconds matter, space is tight, and confusion can cost lives. However,...

Teaching Robots to Serve Humans

Over the past decade, robots have become an increasingly important part of our daily lives. Autonomous vehicles shuttle us from point A to point B, drones deliver lifesaving medicine to remote towns, sidewalk...

Brain-Like Computer Steers Rolling Robot With 0.25 Percent of the Power Needed by Conventional Controllers

Analog computing is making a comeback with hardware that processes and stores information in the same location, similar to biological...

Mid-Air Transformation Helps Flying, Rolling Robot to Transition Smoothly

Specialized robots that can both fly and drive typically touch down on land before attempting to transform and drive away. But when the landing terrain is rough,...

Flying Robots Unlock New Horizons in Construction

An international team led by researchers from Empa and EPFL has explored how aerial robots could precisely process construction materials in the air — an approach with great potential for...

Nimble Dimples: Agile Underwater Vehicles Inspired by Golf Balls

A spherical prototype that can change its surface from smooth to dimpled, cuts through drag and generates lift. Underwater or aerial vehicles with dimples like golf balls...

Soft Sensing, Self-Healing Materials for Robotic Hands and Arms

These materials can detect when they are damaged, take the necessary steps to temporarily heal themselves, and then resume work.

Gaining a Competitive Edge with Functionally Integrated Components

Machine builders are under intense pressure to keep engineering time in line with shorter delivery schedules and materials, assembly, and inventory cost considerations. Machine builders are also striving to make equipment smaller, lighter, higher-performing, and easier for their customers to maintain. While functionally integrated products have been available for a long time, they are more vital today than ever. And there are more options available to provide solutions. Read on to learn more.

New Products

See the new products, including PI's V-141 linear motor stage family; Applied Motion's STF Stepper Drives and SSDC StepSERVO Drives, which are now UL Certified by Underwriters Laboratories; Arnold Magnetic Technologies Corporation's Brushless DC Permanent Magnet Motors; ICONICS's release of GENESIS, a new platform that leverages ICONICS’s decades of software development expertise; and more.

Tape-Based Robot Reaches Far When Extended

It’s a game a lot of us played as children — and maybe even later in life: unspooling measuring tape to see how far it would extend before bending. But to engineers at the University of California San Diego, this game was an inspiration, suggesting that measuring tape could become a great material for a robotic gripper. Read on to learn more about their robot, GRIP-tape.

Open to Possibilities: How Controls Have Evolved to an Open Architecture

While there may be some manufacturers who are hesitant to transition to a more open control landscape for fear of abandoning a proven method of operation, it’s clear that a collaborative approach through apps is the future. Read on to learn more.