3M has collaborated with the American Industry 4.0 expert Eckhart to develop a system that uses a collaborative robot to apply attachment tapes automatically in industrial and automotive processes. The 3M Automated Taping System (ATS) uses a Universal Robots cobot to apply 3M Attachment Tapes – a process that is usually done by hand.

The German sensor-maker Sick claims to have reinvented the industrial light grid with a flexible system consisting of up to 60 individual beams that are daisy-chained to each other and controlled by a single host. Unlike traditional rigid profiles with fixed send and receive modules, the transmitters and receivers in the new FlexChain system can be positioned flexibly with different photoelectric sensing technologies – through-beam, retro-reflective and proximity – being mixed freely to suit an application.

A US motor developer claims to have designed a “transformational” high-efficiency motor that will cost up to 25% less to produce and will weigh up to 60% less than comparable motors. Texas-based Infinitum Electric has just raised $1.8m of Series A financing, bringing its total funding since its founding in 2016 to $2.7m. It plans to use the funds to launch an integrated HVAC-specific version of the motor and to boost r&d for applications in the electric vehicle, and oil and gas, markets.

A revolution in production machinery design in which components float between workstations on magnetically levitated movers was unveiled at the recent SPS IPC Drives exhibition by two different developers. On neighbouring stands, both Beckhoff and Bosch Rexroth were demonstrating their visions of the future in which components are carried smoothly, silently and friction-free on movers that have six degrees of freedom. As well as moving freely in X and Y directions, they can rotate, move up and down by a few millimetres, and even tilt – to avoid spilling liquids, for example.

The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) claims that it will be the first organisation to offer an open industrial network that uses Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) technology. At the recent SPS IPC Drives show in Germany, it announced that it has completed a specification that adds TSN to its existing CC-Link IE Ethernet-based network, which supports operating speeds up to 1Gbit/s.

At the recent SPS IPC Drives show in Germany, Beckhoff announced the development of two new versions of EtherCat that will support Ethernet transmission rates of 1Gbit/s and 10Gbit/s. Known as EtherCat G and G10 (which is still at the proof-of-concept stage), the high-speed versions are aimed at data-intensive applications involving equipment such as machine vision, complex motion control systems and measuring equipment with high sampling rates.

A collaborative UK project has shown that the efficiency and performance of electric motors can be improved significantly, and their rotor weights cut by 40%, by using rotors formed from aluminium matrix composites (AMCs). Other potential benefits include faster assembly times, and optimised strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios, even in continuous products. The technology could also have benefits for other rotating machines, including fans, flywheels and turbines.

Nasa’s InSight probe, which landed on Mars in November 2018, is using a motor-driven probe to penetrate 5m into the Martian surface to shed light on the formation of rocky planets. The lander is scheduled to perform measurements for the next two years that will provide insights into Mars and the formation of the Earth.