The rise of the internet has changed a lot of things. We all walk around with computers in our pockets and expect instant connection, instant response, and instant action. Many of us expect a level of service kings and queens wouldn’t have counted on in the past, and we want it in seconds, if not… Read more »
Rexroth has added some new materials to the educational kit they offer on Advancing Factory Automation. Among the new items is information on Sercos III. Sercos is a bus specifically designed for high quality Ethernet connectivity and communication. Sercos is commonly used in industrial automation applications which implement a protocol structure for control of… Read more »
A toy company was recently being held up as an example of how well initiatives to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. were working. They were sourcing their goods from China, as so many new companies now do, and they were planning to transition to American-made goods over the course of a year or… Read more »
Industrial robotic arms are becoming almost as familiar to the average American as the classic humanoid science fiction robot. Now it may be time to look at another option: exoskeletons. Exoskeletons, wearable robotics, are already a staple in the world of sci-fi. Even the simplest of exoskeletons use an array of motion control technology: sensors,… Read more »
This video, a farewell rear projector show from car maker Subaru when they left their headquarters of 48 years, contains some amazing robotic cameo appearances. (Did Godzilla also make an appearance?) 2014 has been a big year for industrial automation, with a projected increase of 7% in IAE (industrial automation equipment) worldwide revenue, doubling the… Read more »
Operator safety is a key issue for automation and industrial motion control. Uncontrolled motions made by machines can be deadly to humans in the same work space as machinery. The typical solution is to cage robotic arms or otherwise to keep humans and robots quite separate. It’s not so much that robots are intrinsically dangerous… Read more »
Designed by Freepik This is the day to rest, play, and celebrate the American worker. It was in the 1880s that it began to occur to Americans that there was plenty of celebration of presidents and honor given to inventors, investors, and the captains of industry, but there was no day acknowledging the part that… Read more »
We’re so used to automation that we can forget some of the reasons we use industrial machinery instead of having people do all the work by hand. Speed, obviously, and consistent results — those have been prime motivations for automation since the early days of the Industrial Revolution. But human safety is another of the… Read more »
The return of manufacturing jobs in the USA has gradually been on the rise, as we’ve been reporting for the past few years, but we still see a lot of uncertainty about whether that increase is meaningful. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of manufacturing jobs in the US has increased… Read more »
Rare earth magnets increased the strength of magnets by nearly 300 percent compared with old-style iron magnets. This made a big difference in servo motors, as you may already know — but what exactly are rare earth magnets? One thing they’re not: rare. Neodymium magnets and samarium-cobalt magnets are made of materials that are just… Read more »
