Robotics, Automation & Control

Automation

Access your resource for innovative automation technologies and applications. Find technical briefs and applications that play an essential role in today's age of automation in industrial manufacturing and medical industries.

Latest Briefs & News

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Blog: Research Lab
With all the chatter these days about AI, it’s important to really understand what it is and how to use it. A project at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is exploring how operators and an AI automated control system interact.
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White Papers: Photonics/Optics
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Sensor Fusion Enables Comprehensive Analysis of Laser Processing in Additive Manufacturing

New laser processes, such as additive manufacturing (AM) techniques using laser powder bed fusion (LBPF), require consistent energy be delivered to...

White Papers: Test & Measurement
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How Capacitive Sensors Shine in Industrial Environments

Learn how to use capacitive sensors in various measurement tasks and profit from unsurpassed stability and nanometer resolution — also in industrial applications. Capacitive sensors...

Quiz: Robotics, Automation & Control
As generative AI continues to evolve, we are seeing many new applications emerge across industries. How much do you know about generative AI? Take this quiz to test your knowledge.
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5 Ws: Robotics, Automation & Control
A smart modular yardwork robot that can blow leaves and plow snow as well as achieve reductions in carbon emissions at the same time.
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White Papers: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
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How to Navigate Unique Automation Challenges in the Food and Beverage Industry

With the growing demand for items such as fruits, dairy products, and other resources in the food and beverage industry, the requirement for increased production...

Special Reports: Defense
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Award–Winning Breakthrough Inventions - February 2024

The Create the Future Design Contest recognizes and rewards engineering innovations that benefit humanity, the environment, and the economy. In this special report, learn about the...

Articles: Software
What are the opportunities and risks AI offers in manufacturing? How can manufacturers successfully implement AI and prepare their workforce to integrate it into their processes? What’s its future outlook? Tech Briefs asked four industry experts in this roundtable.
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Videos of the Month: Electronics & Computers
See the videos of the month, including one on Purdue University researchers teaching robots how to navigate the swaying deck of a boat, one on a Carnegie Mellon-led team developing a soft robot to better understand an organism — the pleurocystitid — that existed 450 million years ago, and more.
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White Papers: Photonics/Optics
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Nanometer Scale Industrial Automation for Optical Device Manufacturing

Disruptive technologies, including the advancement of chip-level optical functions and the miniaturization of device interconnections, have forced the adoption of new and...

White Papers: Robotics, Automation & Control
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Single Pair Ethernet: Shaking up data transfer

As smart factories become commonplace, standard ethernet cables are struggling to meet the increased requirements of industrial applications. igus® has developed continuous-flex Single Pair...

INSIDER: Tubing & Extrusion

An inspection design method and procedure by which mobile robots can inspect large pipe structures has been demonstrated with the successful inspection of...

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INSIDER: Medical

People who received gentle electric currents on the back of their heads learned to maneuver a robotic surgery tool in virtual reality and then in a real...

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INSIDER: AR/AI

Engineers at Princeton University and Google have come up with a new way to teach robots to know when they don’t know. The technique involves quantifying the...

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White Papers: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
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Technology & Benefits of Advanced Inductive Position Sensor Technology

This white paper describes new and improved technology that offers engineers specific advantages in speed, accuracy and reliability over previous linear position...

Blog: AR/AI
Software is a key component of automation, and with AI, software developers will be able to create more customized and optimized solutions for various tasks and challenges.
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Special Reports: Robotics, Automation & Control
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Space Technology - January 2024

NASA is making progress in solving some of the most daunting challenges of future space exploration – how to survive the extreme cold of the lunar night, generate oxygen for Mars colonies, and create...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Photoelectric (PE) sensors represent a discrete sensor technology widely used throughout industry. They use the presence or absence of light to provide an on/off output to supervisory automation and monitoring systems, and are often the better choice for sensing manufacturing products.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Called EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor), the self-propelled, autonomous robot was inspired by a desire to look for signs of life in the ocean hiding below the icy crust of Saturn's moon Enceladus by descending narrow vents in the surface that spew geysers into space.
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Imagine you want to carry a large, heavy box up a flight of stairs. You might spread your fingers and lift the box with both hands, then hold it on top of your forearms and...

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Articles: Electronics & Computers
Ultimately, zonal architectures require a fundamentally reorganized software structure that allows the OEM to independently, quickly, easily, and modularly adapt the control of the entire vehicle while minimizing the complexity in the wiring harness and the number of control devices.
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Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping
See the product of the month, Keysight Technologies' new compact, four-channel vector signal generator (VSG) capable of signal generation up to 8.5 GHz with 960 MHz of modulation bandwidth per channel.
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Application Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
A pilot project between ABB Robotics and US non-profit organization Junglekeepers demonstrated the role cloud technology can play in making reforestation faster, more efficient, and scalable.
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Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Like other small and medium-sized enterprises, HWL Löttechnik GmbH faces the realities of labor shortages, the ongoing energy crisis, and the intricate nature of production processes. To overcome these challenges, HWL adopted state-of-the-art technologies and the optimization of operational processes.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
MIT researchers have developed a camera-based touch sensor that is long, curved, and shaped like a human finger. Their device provides high-resolution tactile sensing over a large area. The sensor, called the GelSight Svelte, uses two mirrors to reflect and refract light.
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Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
Moving robots demands a lot of energy, and batteries, the typical power source, limit lifetime and raise environmental concerns. Researchers at the University of Washington have now created MilliMobile, a tiny, self-driving robot powered only by surrounding light or radio waves.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Centimeter-scale walking and crawling robots are in demand both for their ability to explore tight or cluttered environments and for their low fabrication costs. Pulling from origami-inspired construction, researchers have crafted a more simplified approach to the design and fabrication of these robots.
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Briefs: Automotive
Researchers at The Ohio State University have developed new software to aid in the development, evaluation, and demonstration of safer autonomous, or driverless, vehicles. Called the Vehicle-in-Virtual-Environment (VVE) method, it allows the testing of driverless cars in a perfectly safe environment.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Software Model Makes Transport Robots Smarter
Imagine a team of humans and robots working together to process online orders — real-life workers strategically positioned among their automated coworkers who are moving intelligently back and forth in a warehouse space. This could become a reality sooner than later, thanks to researchers at the University of Missouri.

Webcasts

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On-Demand Webinars: Defense

From Data to Decision: How AI Enhances Warfighter Readiness

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Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

April Battery & Electrification Summit

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Upcoming Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Tech Update: 3D Printing for Transportation in 2024

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Upcoming Webinars: Materials

Unleashing Epoxy's Potential: Ensuring Hermetic Sealing in Modern...

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Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement

Building an Automotive EMC Test Plan

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Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

The Moon and Beyond from a Thermal Perspective

Videos