Motion Control/​Automation

Robotics, Automation & Control

Stay updated on the fast-changing advancements in robotics, automation, and control. Access the technical briefs and applications that are trending in AI, robotic operating systems, and machine learning.

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Products: Motion Control
MICO (North Mankato, MN) offers hydraulic-over-air relay valves designed to convert hydraulic modulated input pressure to a proportional output air pressure. The relay valves are suited for various on- and off-highway...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
PI (Physik Instrumente) LP (Auburn, MA) offers PI miCos precision linear stages. More than 20 product families are available, including miniature translation stages and positioning ranges of 40-mm to high load, and linear...
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Products: Motion Control
Baumer (Southington, CT) offers the MA20 measuring wheel encoder for flexible position and speed feedback for conveyor systems. The two-in-one device combines a high-resolution optical incremental encoder and a precise...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Aerotech (Pittsburgh, PA) offers the MPS-GR series rotary stages available in two sizes: the MPS50GR and MPS75GR. They incorporate wormgear drive and bearing components for repeatable positioning, and are available with DC servo...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Bauer Gear Motor, an Altra Industrial Motion Company (South Beloit, IL), offers a range of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM). The motors employ a rotor design that integrates embedded permanent magnets made from the...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
The Drives & Motion Division of Yaskawa America (Waukegan, IL) has released the P1000 variable speed drive that provides control for variable-torque loads through 500. Configuration tools include a multi-language LCD...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
SPEED 2012 software from CDadapco (Melville, NY) consists of five machine programs: PC-BDC (Brushless PM Motors), PC-IMD (Induction Motors), PCDCM (DC Brush Motors), PC-WFC (DC and AC Wound Field Motors), and...
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Products: Motion Control
Applimotion (Loomis, CA) has introduced new models of the UTS slotless frameless direct drive motors in sizes from 12 mm to 300 mm diameter. The motors feature zero cogging and sinusoidal torque curves. With large...
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Products: Motion Control
The 118Z Series pressure/vacuum oil-less diaphragm pump from Thomas Division (Sheboygan, WI) provides a low-vibration design that utilizes a lightweight nylon housing and end cap that limit the pump’s weight to 4.4 pounds. It...
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Products: Motion Control
The MESA 7I77 card set from Mesa Electronics (Richmond, CA) is a FPGA-based, 6-axis analog control system for CNC, industrial automation retrofits, and OEM systems. Six axes of analog outputs and encoder inputs are...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Ultra-Compact Motor Controller
This invention is an electronically commutated brushless motor controller that incorporates Hall-array sensing in a small, 42-gram package that provides 4096 absolute counts per motor revolution position sensing. The unit is the size of a miniature hockey puck, and is a 44-pin male connector that provides many I/O...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Actuators are critical to all the robotic and manipulation mechanisms that are used in current and future NASA missions, and are also needed for many other industrial, aeronautical, and space...
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Application Briefs: Motion Control
Manufacturers often need to test their products to verify that they meet customer specifications, and provide the data that verifies specification compliance. This is particularly true...
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Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Axial pumps with cam-driven commutation units — so-called PWK pumps — emerged as a result of a research project conducted in the Department of Hydraulics and Pneumatics at...
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News: Robotics, Automation & Control
Exoskeletal Device Advances Study of Mobility in Spinal Cord Injury
Kessler Foundation has released preliminary research findings from its clinical study of the wearable robotic exoskeletal device, Ekso, made by Ekso Bionics. Ekso has been undergoing clinical investigation in patients with spinal cord injury at Kessler since October 2011, when the...
Briefs: Medical
Hands-Free Transcranial Color Doppler Probe
Current transcranial color Doppler (TCD) transducer probes are bulky and difficult to move in tiny increments to search and optimize TCD signals. This invention provides miniature motions of a TCD transducer probe to optimize TCD signals.
News: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers Engineer Light-Activated Skeletal Muscle
Scientists at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania are taking more than inspiration from nature — they’re taking ingredients. The group has genetically engineered muscle cells to flex in response to light, and is using the light-sensitive tissue to build highly articulated robots. This...
News: Robotics, Automation & Control
Resilient 'Meshworm' Robot Stretches and Contracts with Heat
Researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University have engineered a soft autonomous robot that moves via peristalsis, crawling across surfaces by contracting segments of its body, much like an earthworm. The robot, made almost entirely of soft materials, is remarkably...
Question of the Week: Robotics, Automation & Control
Will We See a Greater Use of Robots in Homes and Offices?
Robots like the PR2, from the Menlo Park, CA-based Willow Garage, perform a variety of tasks: bringing objects to people, opening doors, and even folding laundry. And while companies including iRobot create technologies to take care of minor jobs such as cleaning floors and pools, others...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
The Gold Drum HV 100/800 from Elmo Motion Control (Nashua, NH) is a compact servo drive that delivers up to 100 A and operates up to 800 VDC. The 60-KW, high-performance, wide-bandwidth servo drive is EtherCAT and CANOpen compliant....
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Products: Motion Control
ABB Robotics (Auburn Hills, MI) has introduced the IRB 120T, a multipurpose 6-axis robot. It is suited for assembly and pick-andplace applications requiring reorientation of the product, commonly found in the food and beverage,...
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Products: Motion Control
Crystal Instruments Corp. (Santa Clara, CA) has introduced the Spider-81, a modular, distributed, scalable vibration control system with centralized DSP architecture and operation via PC, WiFi-enabled PDA, or iPad. It...
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Products: Motion Control
Bishop-Wisecarver Corp. (Pittsburg, CA) has announced The Radial Wheel, a single-row, deep-groove ball bearing designed for applications with specified radial loading conditions. The wheel enables reliable motion in environments...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Vacon Plc (Mequon, WI) offers the VACON® 100, VACON® 100 X, and VACON® 20 X AC drives. The VACON 100 is a multi-purpose drive that can be adapted for hundreds of different applications. It features fully graphical multilingual...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Ondrives.US Corp. (Freeport, NY) has announced a right-angle NEMA gearbox designed to IP65 specifications for use in washdown applications in filling, capping, packaging, and similar machinery. Rated backlash is 30 arc-minutes, with...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
API Technologies Corp. (Orlando, FL), has announced a high-g digital accelerometer from its Sensors line of inertial measurement products. Measuring up to 500 g, this accelerometer is used for shock detection. Available...
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Products: Motion Control
Koford Engineering LLC (Winchester, OH) has introduced a short-length 28 mm (1.102") diameter slotless 2-pole motor with an axial length of 23.9 mm (.941"). The motor is designed for applications with limited available axial...
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Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
The 1410 Series DC miniature diaphragm pump from Thomas Division (Sheboygan, WI) measures 3.3 × 1.2 × 2.1" and is designed so that a full range of motor options, and several design configurations, can be used, depending on the...
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Products: Motion Control
The iC-LO from iC-Haus GmbH (Bodenheim, Germany) is a triangulation position sensor designed as a system-on-chip for the assembly of diffuse reflective photoelectric sensors with switching outputs. Integrated functions include...
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