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Ruggedized Nano servo drives for harsh environs

Copley Controls has released its R47 and R48 NanoPlus Micro Module servo drives. Designed for extreme environments and space-constrained applications, these rugged platforms operate from 9 to 180 VDC, delivering peak power up to 6.3 kW. Offering CANopen (R47) or EtherCAT (R48) communications, both feature STO SIL 3 safety and broad encoder support. Well suited for COTS military, nautical, aviation, oil refining, and vehicle-based systems.
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Simplify AC motor control with the new OMRON M1 Inverter

The OMRON M1 Inverter simplifies machine design by unifying motion, safety, networking, and motor control into a single platform. Available in M1-STD, M1-ECT, and M1-EMP models, it controls IM and PM motors with high precision. Featuring SIL3 PLe STO safety and native EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, or RS-485 communications, the M1 accelerates development within the Sysmac environment.
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Flexible planetary gearheads: Quiet, extremely robust

FAULHABER GPT gearheads for miniature and micro motors deliver high power density, exceptional flexibility, and excellent cost efficiency. Designed for seamless integration with diverse motors and encoders, these compact planetary drives feature hardened stainless steel components that reliably withstand extreme torques and abrupt load changes. Offered in standard, low-noise, and high-torque variants, they ensure precise, durable performance across wide operating temperature ranges.
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What is a low-waving linear motion guide?

If you are having a problem with your linear guides not always staying perfectly straight during use, it may be due to a phenomenon called waving -- a problem that is particularly critical in high-precision markets such as semiconductor and LCD equipment-related applications or machine tools. Thankfully, THK has an answer.
Read the full article.

NORD serves up sweet energy and cost savings for industrial bakeries

NORD DRIVE-SYSTEMS offers robust, highly configurable drive solutions designed to optimize efficiency, ensure hygiene, and reduce the TCO for automated bakery systems. From industrial-scale mixing and portioning to baking, cooling, and packaging, NORD's modular product portfolio delivers precise, reliable performance across every stage of production.
Read the full article. You may learn something even if you are not in the baking industry.

Key considerations for battery-powered motors

Battery-powered motor applications require careful design considerations to pair motor performance and power consumption profiles in concert with the correct battery type. This Power Electric article covers power requirements, performance considerations, and battery choices to assist you in selecting an efficient motor and a battery with the appropriate capacity. Good technical info.
Read the Power Electric technical article.

Driving next-gen pump and fan applications: Sinamics G210X

The Sinamics G210X is a new frequency converter for advanced pump, fan, and compressor applications, combining easy engineering with robust design. Integrated functions, seamless TIA Portal integration, and a web server reduce PLC effort to speed up commissioning, operation, and diagnostics. IP55 protection, 3C3 coating, and S2 system redundancy ensure reliable operation in demanding environments.
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New Exlar food-grade actuator

Curtiss-Wright's Actuation Division has expanded its Exlar line with hygienic electric actuators using FDA-approved materials and finishes. Designed for food, beverage, packaging, and pharmaceutical automation, the new GTF unit enables economical USDA, 3-A, BISSC, and EHEDG certification. Its IP69K washdown option, inverted roller screw, and compact servo-driven design deliver reliable, high-performance motion for hygienic machinery.
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New Texas conveyor system is 42 miles long!

SEW-EURODRIVE is helping power one of the most ambitious bulk material handling projects in North America through its contribution to the Dune Express conveyor system, a record-setting 42-mile single-flight conveyor across the Permian Basin.
Read the full article.

Compact servo drives for harsh environs

Built on Copley's proven NanoPlus platform, the compact, 1.2-oz R-Series Nano servo drives withstand extreme temperatures, vibration, shock, and humidity. Available in R47 (CANopen) and R48 (EtherCAT) models, they suit space-constrained, harsh environments such as mil/aero robotics and gimbals. This commercial off-the-shelf series provides a hardened option without defense-specific development lead times.
Learn more from Copley Controls.

Hybrid actuator with force up to 14,726 lb

Kyntronics' new all-electric HyCore hybrid actuator is a compact, low-cost alternative to traditional hydraulic, pneumatic, and electro-mechanical systems. Engineered for OEMs, it delivers up to 14,726 lb of force. The self-contained design eliminates leaks and wear, providing precise control, shock-load tolerance, and high efficiency. It simplifies integration and lowers operating costs for mobile equipment, packaging, assembly automation, and more.
Learn more.

SDP/SI motion products: Best sellers

SDP/SI's best sellers aren't just popular -- they're proven. These are the motion components their customers return to time and again for precision, reliability, and unbeatable value. From belts and pulleys to gears, bearings, and couplings, each product has earned its place through consistent performance in real-world applications.
Learn more and see the full products list.

Automated part grinding and finishing in one unit!

Grinding large fabrications is a classic dull, dirty, and dangerous task perfectly suited for automation, yet traditional setups require multiple costly robots. At Automate 2026, Güdel debuted a single-robot solution that utilizes two extra degrees of freedom to finish massive surfaces without complex part repositioning.
Read the full article.

Rockford RBS ball screws and nuts now available

Automation-Direct now offers US-manufactured RBS ball screws and nuts for precise linear motion in OEM and maintenance applications. Achieving over 90% efficiency, they feature low friction, high accuracy, and minimal wear. Available in various diameters, lengths, and leads, these precision-matched components handle axial loads with minimal backlash, providing a dependable solution that reduces maintenance and extends operational life. Great prices too.
Learn more.

Next-gen conveyor transports 3,000-kg payloads

Building on its established portfolio of twin-strand conveyors that are currently used in a variety of industry verticals, Bosch Rexroth is introducing the TS 7plus transfer system, which is the world's first freely configurable, fully electric conveyance solution to workpieces weighing up to 3,000 kg. TS 7plus transports material via conveyor rollers on freely configurable modular sections with lift/transverse, rotary, and positioning units, as well as stop gates. Great for automotive, battery, aerospace/defense, and more.
Learn more.

Robots create their own teams and wait to see what happens in improved multi-robot control system

By exhibiting patience and waiting for teammates, collaborative robots complete tasks faster.

New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that programming robots to create their own teams and voluntarily wait for their teammates results in faster task completion, with the potential to improve manufacturing, agriculture, and warehouse automation. This research was recognized as a finalist for Best Paper Award on Multi-Robot Systems at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2024.

"There's a long history of debate on whether we want to build a single, powerful humanoid robot that can do all the jobs, or we have a team of robots that can collaborate," says one of the study authors, Hao Zhang, associate professor in the UMass Amherst Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences and director of the Human-Centered Robotics Lab.

In a manufacturing setting, a robot team can be less expensive because it maximizes the capability of each robot. The challenge then becomes: How do you coordinate a diverse set of robots? Some may be fixed in place, others mobile; some can lift heavy materials, while others are suited to smaller tasks.

As a solution, Zhang and his team created a learning-based approach for scheduling robots called learning for voluntary waiting and subteaming (LVWS).

VIDEO: Heterogeneous multi-robot collaborative scheduling with dynamic subteaming. [Credit: Human-Centered Robotics Lab at UMass Amherst]

"Robots have big tasks, just like humans," says Zhang. "For example, they have a large box that cannot be carried by a single robot. The scenario will need multiple robots to collaboratively work on that."

The other behavior is voluntary waiting. "We want the robot to be able to actively wait because, if they just choose a greedy solution to always perform smaller tasks that are immediately available, sometimes the bigger task will never be executed," Zhang explains.

To test their LVWS approach, they gave six robots 18 tasks in a computer simulation and compared their LVWS approach to four other methods. In this computer model, there is a known, perfect solution for completing the scenario in the fastest amount of time. The researchers ran the different models through the simulation and calculated how much worse each method was compared to this perfect solution, a measure known as suboptimality.

The comparison methods ranged from 11.8% to 23% suboptimal. The new LVWS method was 0.8% suboptimal. "So the solution is close to the best possible or theoretical solution," says Williard Jose, an author on the paper and a doctoral student in computer science at the Human-Centered Robotics Lab.

How does making a robot wait make the whole team faster? Consider this scenario: You have three robots -- two that can lift 4 lb each and one that can lift 10 lb. One of the small robots is busy with a different task, and there is a 7-lb box that needs to be moved.

"Instead of that big robot performing that task, it would be more beneficial for the small robot to wait for the other small robot and then they do that big task together, because that bigger robot's resource is better suited to do a different large task," says Jose.

If it's possible to determine an optimal answer in the first place, why do robots even need a scheduler? "The issue with using that exact solution is to compute that it takes a really long time," explains Jose. "With larger numbers of robots and tasks, it's exponential. You can't get the optimal solution in a reasonable amount of time."

When looking at models using 100 tasks, where it is intractable to calculate an exact solution, they found that their method completed the tasks in 22 timesteps compared to 23.05 to 25.85 timesteps for the comparison models.

Zhang hopes this work will help further the progress of these teams of automated robots, particularly when the question of scale comes into play. For instance, he says that a single, humanoid robot may be a better fit in the small footprint of a single-family home, while multi-robot systems are better options for a large industry environment that requires specialized tasks.

Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst

Published August 2024

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