Making things is one of the things people do best. That doesn’t mean there are no challenges involved. There can even be dangers. For centuries, “mad as a hatter” has been used to refer to people who were mentally disturbed. The usage came from the fact that hatters — people working in hat factories —… Read more »
The bionic kangaroo that copies kangaroos to figure out how to use less energy to move machinery is only one of the many example of biomimicry showing up in modern design. Biomimicry refers to the practice of looking at how nature solves problems and using the insights thus gained to improve design. An article in… Read more »
Upgrading machinery is no small matter, even though salespeople can make it sound that way. A perfect example is the case of Cummins, Inc., an outfit that works with deisel engines. They relied on Indramat RAC drives, legacy drives from Indramat, which is now part of Bosch Rexroth, to run four key machines. They had… Read more »
Bosch Rexroth is introducing new integrated industrial motion control technology with the less than cool slogan, “One cable instead of three!” We might have gone with, “One cable to rule them all!” or “All for one and one for all!” Lots of companies have offered one cable, not three, for lots of things in the… Read more »
In his new book, Big Data @Work, Thomas Davenport envisions ways in which big data could change the face of manufacturing — just as it has already changed marketing and healthcare. “Big data,” he explains, “refers to data that is too big to fit on a single server, too unstructured to fit into a row-and-column… Read more »
Just how dangerous are robots? We’re not talking here about the kind of robots that take over the city and rampage through the streets. We’re talking about the ones which, thanks to servo drives and advanced motion control, help us out in the factory. Automation frees us from repetitive tasks, increases precision, lessens waste, and… Read more »
German engineers at Festo have developed a servo motor-driven kangaroo that is able to do something important. Sure, it hops, and it’s impressive that it can do so in response to gestures from 50 feet away, but the coolest thing the bionic kangaroo can do is something that Festo hopes will make a big difference… Read more »
Not long ago we got a call from a Navy ship. Their Rexroth hydraulic units had malfunctioned and they were drifting into a bay — not their destination. It was a situation that called for an immediate response, that’s for sure. As it happens, we don’t serve hydraulics. We were able to get the right… Read more »
More manufacturers are facing energy efficiency requirements. Sometimes this is a matter of government incentives or even legal demands. Sometimes it’s a customer who has made a bold statement about sustainability and it looking to you to help them walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. Sometimes it’s your own company’s sustainability initiatives…. Read more »
The difference between software and hardware is easy to understand. Hardware is hard… literally. It’s made out of metal and plastic, and can’t be folded. It’s too hard. Software is so soft that it can’t even be touched. It can be downloaded and stored on or in some tangible device, but it can’t be folded,… Read more »
