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.

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Products: Motion Control
Lin Engineering (Morgan Hill, CA) has released the G5709 stepper motor series. This NEMA 23, 0.9-degree stepper motor was designed to output high torque while running with low resonance. The motors output high torque while...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
The integrated I2 DC Servo Motor from Specialty Motors (Valencia, CA) is programmable to perform complex velocity and positioning movements. The all-in-one unit contains the brushless servomotor, controller, drives, power supply,...
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Products: Motion Control
B&R Industrial Automation Corp. (Roswell, GA) offers the 8GP70 series helical gearbox with a shaft output, and the 8GF70 series helical gearbox with a drive flange. Both feature minimal backlash and can handle high axial...
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Application Briefs: Motion Control
Today’s PCB plug-in connectors must accommodate many trends, including increasing miniaturization, rising levels of performance of electronic components, and growing complexity in machine...
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Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Contemporary industrial automation control systems are employing variable frequency drives (VFDs) in ever-increasing numbers. VFDs give control engineers...
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News: Automotive
3D Printer That Could Build a Home in 24 Hours Wins Global Design Competition
New York, NY – Contour Crafting, a computerized construction method that rapidly 3D prints large-scale structures directly from architectural CAD models, has been awarded the grand prize of $20,000 in the 2014 "Create the Future" Design Contest. Contour Crafting...
News: Materials
Robotic Fabric Moves and Contracts
Researchers are developing a robotic, sensor-embedded fabric that moves and contracts. Such an elastic technology could enable a new class of soft robots, stretchable garments, "g-suits" for pilots or astronauts to counteract acceleration effects, and lightweight, versatile robots to roam alien landscapes during...
News: Photonics/Optics
Researchers Equip Robot with Novel Tactile Sensor
Researchers at MIT and Northeastern University have equipped a robot with a novel tactile sensor that lets it grasp a USB cable draped freely over a hook and insert it into a USB port.The sensor is an adaptation of a technology called GelSight, which was developed by the lab of Edward Adelson, the...
News: Motion Control
New Algorithm Lets Cheetah Robot Run
Speed and agility are hallmarks of the cheetah: The big predator is the fastest land animal on Earth, able to accelerate to 60 mph in just a few seconds. As it ramps up to top speed, a cheetah pumps its legs in tandem, bounding until it reaches a full gallop.Now MIT researchers have developed an algorithm for...
News: Motion Control
Untethered Soft Robot Walks Through Flames
Developers from Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have produced the first untethered soft robot — a quadruped that can stand up and walk away from its designers. The researchers were able to scale up earlier soft-robot...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Biologically inspired robots are being realized by engineers and scientists all over the world. While much emphasis is placed on developing physical characteristics for robots such as human-like faces or...
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Application Briefs: Motion Control
Life-sized, hummingbird-like, unmanned surveillance aircraft weighs two-thirds of an ounce, including batteries and video camera. The Nano Hummingbird is a miniature aircraft developed under the Nano Air...
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Articles: Motion Control
Permanent magnet brushless motors of various design architectures and power levels have been used since the late 1980s in industrial and commercial applications. Over the course of...
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Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
At first glance, the photo at the top is not appealing to any market — a pallet full of old gearmotors is not something one wants to think about after purchasing the necessary...
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Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Linear motion systems are found inside countless machines including precision laser cutting systems, laboratory automation equipment, semiconductor fabrication machines, CNC machines,...
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News: Electronics & Computers
NASA engineers and interns are testing a group of robots and related software that will show whether it's possible for autonomous machines to scurry about an alien world such as the Moon,...
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INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
NASA announced recently that laser technology originally developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory has been selected for its new Mars mission in 2020. SuperCam, which builds upon the...
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Products: Motion Control
Omron Automation and Safety (Schaumburg, IL) offers the Sysmac NJ machine automation controller that provides direct connectivity to SQL databases, including Microsoft SQL, Oracle, IBM DB2, MySQL, and Firebird. It...
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Products: Motion Control
The ATOM™ non-contact optical linear and rotary incremental encoder system from Renishaw (Hoffman Estates, IL) combines miniaturization with dirt immunity and signal stability. It features a readhead as small as 6.7 x 12.7 x...
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Products: Motion Control
The EGP from SCHUNK (Morrisville, NC) is an electric small part gripper that weighs 110 g, and has a stroke of 3 mm per finger. The gripping force can be adjusted on two stages, and its maximum gripping force amounts to 40 N. The...
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Products: Motion Control
Position Sensors
ams AG (Raleigh, NC) has introduced the 47 Series magnetic position sensors featuring a technology capable of producing accurate angle measurements of rotors spinning at high speed. The sensors feature DAEC™ (Dynamic Angle Error Compensation), a patent-pending technology that eliminates the measurement error attributable to...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Midwest Motion Products (Watertown, MN) offers the Model MMP-D33-455F-24V GP81-046 planetary DC gearmotor that accepts any 24 Volt DC source, including battery power. It measures 3.2" in diameter, and has a keyed output shaft of 19-mm...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Avago Technologies (San Jose, CA) has introduced the AEDR-87xx series of 3-channel reflective optical encoder devices for use in low-power, miniaturized motion control systems such as stepper motors, electrical actuators,...
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Products: Motion Control
Newport Corp. (Irvine, CA) has introduced the FCR100 rotation stage that features a stepper motor with an integrated controller/ driver using the company’s iPP™ technology. This design simplifies cable management and...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
NK Technologies (San Jose, CA) offers the ATS Series AC current sensors that combine a current-operated switch and transducer in a single package. A built-in digital display provides a visual indication of where the contact...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
HBM (Marlborough, MA) has introduced the PX460 industrial measurement amplifier that measures raw and filtered torque, frequency, pulse, speed, and angle of rotation. The position-based torque measurements can be used...
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Products: Motion Control
Koford Engineering LLC (Winchester, OH) has introduced a line of 5.07" (129 mm)-diameter slotted motors for applications requiring high torque and power in a short axial length. The motors are 3.149" (80 mm) long, with a peak...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Miki Pulley US (Plymouth, MN) offers the Step-Flex™ shaft coupling that eliminates resonance in stepper motor ball screw assemblies. The two-part elastomer element combination dampens vibration caused by the actuator carrier...
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Products: Motion Control
The EL7201-0010 Servo Terminal I/O from Beckhoff Automation (Savage, MN) supports One Cable Technology (OCT), combining power and feedback signals into one cable. The terminals from the Beckhoff EtherCAT I/O system integrate a...
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