♦  Adept Technology clams to have produced the world’s fastest robot. It claims that its Quattro s650H robot has broken the 300 cycle/minute barrier for a standard 25 x 300 x 25mm cycle. The parallel robot with a four-arm kinematic is designed for high-speed manufacturing, materials-handling and assembly operations.

♦  The US motor manufacturer Remy International has announced an off-the-shelf motor for hybrid and electric vehicles that uses a patented “high voltage hairpin” technology, said to deliver the highest power and torque densities available. The technology also improves cooling, reducing the need for external cooling. Remy has the capacity to produce more than 100,000 motors a year at sites in North America and Europe. It is being helped by US Department of Energy grants designed to accelerate the development of next-generation EVs.

♦  Telford-based Getac UK has announced a range of rugged tablet PCs which, it claims, are the first to offer a multi-touch screen that can be used with or without gloves. The facility on the V100 PC allows users to zoom in and out of maintenance manuals, rotate images, and navigate applications using a series of finger gestures – including single or dual touch, and flick movements.

♦  B&R Automation is offering prizes totalling €17,500 in the second European competition to find innovative, practical applications and university research projects incorporating the Powerlink real-time Ethernet technology. Last year’s competition attracted more than 26 entries. Registration for the competition closes on 18 December.

♦  US-based EnOcean has released a third-generation of its energy-harvesting wireless modules for sensor applications. The modules are based on its Dolphin chip, claimed to be the first device to support self-powered two-way wireless communications with ultra-low-power (200nA) sleep currents, and the ability to self-power actuators. The modules, which can extract energy from solar, linear motion or thermal sources, are said to consume 1/10th the power of other low-power radio modules.