Three US engineering companies – the conveyor system manufacturer, MagneMotion, the automation specialist, Tek-Matic, and the engineering designer, Accelerated Machine Design & Engineering (AMD&E) – are developing a flexible platform for assembling products that is powered by MagneMotion’s QuickStick linear synchronous motor (LSM) technology.
A British design and development organisation has produced a robotic gripper and vision system that can distinguish and selectively pick fruit of different varieties, shapes, sizes and colours. Cambridge Consultants says its system paves the way for robots to take on complex picking and sorting tasks involving irregular organic items – such as sorting fruit and vegetables, or locating and removing specific weeds from a field of crops.
A British start-up is developing a six-axis collaborative robot which it aims to sell for around £3,000 ($4,600). London-based Automata Technologies was set up earlier this year by two architects who spotted a gap in the market for affordable, easy-to-use robots while they were working on advanced manufacturing and construction techniques for the renowned architect, Zaha Hadid.
The British linear motion specialist HepcoMotion has joined forces with the German automation giant Beckhoff to offer a version of Beckhoff’s linear-motor-based Extended Transport System (XTS) that is suitable for heavy-duty applications. The combined system made its debut at the recent Motek handling exhibition in Germany.
At the SPS IPC Drives automation show in Germany next month, Siemens will be unveiling a gateway that transmits machine and industrial system data easily and securely to the cloud. The Connector Box (which is based on a Simatic industrial PC) will be able to extract and transmit data from control and drive systems from Siemens and from third-party vendors. These functions will also be integrated into Siemens’ portfolio of industrial communications products.
Festo is developing a modular palletising system that will transport workpieces independently and simultaneously to different assembly stations, allowing different processes to be carried out on each item, and resulting in individually customised products. The system, called Motion Cube, has won the Automation and Robotics category of the 2015 Handling Awards announced at the Motek show in Germany this week.
American researchers have developed a method for extracting rare-earth materials from the drives and motors of discarded electric and hybrid vehicles. Their aim is to help develop a sustainable domestic supply of rare earth-elements in the US, and to reduce the nation’s dependence on China for materials that are vital to the production of high-efficiency motors, wind turbines and other technologies.
A US company claims to have developed a new class of high-efficiency motor that that can cut energy consumption by up to 80%, while improving power quality. Missouri-based QM Power says that its Q-Sync smart synchronous motor – aimed initially at refrigeration fan applications – will also improve reliability and allow energy-saving retrofits at a similar cost to conventional motors. QM is planning to expand the technology into other applications.
The bearing manufacturer Schaeffler has released an online tool that helps users to choose the best rolling bearings for motors and generators, based on mechanical and electromagnetic field loads. The free Bearinx-online Easy EMachine tool can perform calculations for motors and generators in any orientation, and allows users to compare various bearing support options.
The US Energy Department is awarding $22m in funding to five projects aimed at merging wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor technologies, such as silicon carbide (SiC), with advanced large-scale electric motors, to boost efficiency in high-energy-consuming industries, products and processes. The projects, funded through the Department’s Next Generation Electric Machines programme, aim to cut energy waste by up to 30% and to reduce the size of megawatt-scale motors and drive systems by up to 50%.
A US cyber-security specialist, Ultra Electronics (3eTI), has announced a cyber-security appliance that detects and warns of attacks on serial–based automation networks. It claims that SCADAWatch is the first product that can detect a network intrusion or anomaly while preserving operational performance.
Profibus & Profinet International (PI) says it is optimising Profinet to suit the special needs of process automation users.
Swedish researchers say that they can cut the energy consumed by industrial robots by up to 40% by using an algorithm that optimises the movements of robot arms. The algorithm reduces the arms’ acceleration and deceleration, as well as the time they are at a standstill because they continue to consume energy when not moving.
The German motion control specialist Trinamic has announced what it claims is the world’s first EtherCat slave controller to integrate real-time, latency-free I/O peripherals. The TMC8460 chip is the first in a family of EtherCat-compliant interface products that Trinamic is developing, based on its membership of the EtherCat Technology Group (ETG).
An Austrian company has developed a range of PLCs (programmable logic controllers) based on the open-source Arduino platform and backed by $65,829 of crowd-sourced funding, raised via a Kickstarter appeal.
