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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.
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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.
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Next-generation air bearing linear slide

The A-123 noncontact nanoposi-tioning stage integrates a brushless motor, air bearings, and a 1-nm encoder, supporting 40-kg payloads over 750-mm travel. Its pressurized air film eliminates the friction, wear, and vibration of mechanical stages, ensuring zero particle generation. Customizable with options such as granite bases and isolation systems, it is ideal for semiconductor metrology, inspection, photonics, and more.
Learn more.

How to implement redundancy in stepper motors

Some of the recent research activities in the area of electric motor drives for safety-critical applications (such as aerospace and nuclear power plants) are focused on looking at various fault-tolerant motor and drive topologies. After discussing different solutions, this article focuses on a miniature permanent magnet (PM) stepper motor design that provides increased redundancy.
Read this informative FAULHABER article.

Teradyne Robotics unveils a multitude of deployable AI applications at Automate 2026

Teradyne Robotics, the company behind Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), will demonstrate how physical AI is transforming industrial automation at Automate 2026 in Chicago, June 22-25 at booth #1250. The demos presented are real, deployable, and ready for purchase. They include assembly, pick-and-place, palletizing, mobile robots, and more. A lot of good new offerings here. Check it out.
Read the full article.

Affordable nanometer-level precision focus stage

Zaber Technologies has launched the DMA Objective Focus Stage, a compact, linear motor solution for microscope OEMs. Starting at $4,500 with an integrated controller, it offers 50-nm repeatability and sub-15-ms settling times -- matching piezo precision at one-third the cost. Featuring plug-and-play architecture, a developer-friendly API, and a tiny footprint, it accelerates high-throughput workflows like spatial biology and digital pathology.
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How Ford automated a moving EV assembly line with vision-guided robots: Inbolt case study

Automating moving assembly lines is highly challenging. At Ford's Cologne Electric Vehicle Center in Germany, applying pressure to water shields on vehicle bodies required following a precise path on unsynchronized, continuously moving vehicle carriers. To automate this, Ford deployed two Universal Robots cobots equipped with Inbolt 3D cameras. Using real-time vision guidance, the robots track vehicle positions and adapt on the fly. The result? Near-zero repairs, reliable moving-line automation, and new possibilities for tasks like tightening operations.
View the video.

Inbolt launches vision-enabled Robot Programming, closing the loop from CAD to factory floor

Inbolt is launching two new capabilities that complete the company's AI Vision Model for robot guidance at Automate 2026 in Chicago, June 22-25. With Robot Programming and Robot Control, Inbolt covers the full path from virtual commissioning to adaptive robot motion control, for stationary and moving-line applications. It's one platform from perception to motion -- on the robots manufacturers already own.
Read the full article.

Top Tech Tip: How to specify electric rod-style actuators for optimal performance, reliability, and efficiency

The engineers at Tolomatic provide their Top 10 Tips for specifying electric rod-style actuators, which have a higher initial cost, more advanced design, and more predictable performance compared to fluid power cylinders. This is a really thorough presentation filled with useful information.
Read the full article.

High-precision multi-axis motion platforms

Motion Solutions delivers high-speed, high-accuracy XY scanning solutions optimized for OEM integration. These rigid, modular platforms provide stable, repeatable multi-axis motion control, ensuring faster throughput and precise positioning for advanced workflows. Ideal for automated microscopy, digital pathology, and spatial biology, the scalable design supports flexible travel lengths and custom configurations to seamlessly optimize your system.
Learn more.

What is the best palletizing option for your operation?

Is your business looking to install or upgrade a palletizing system, but you don't know where to start? Marc Giguère from Robotiq does a comprehensive run-through of options including a fully engineered system, a cobot, or a plug-and-play setup. A lot depends on your production volume, budget, available space, and need for flexibility. Systems are compared and contrasted. Fastest ROI? The best lean system? What works for high throughput? Find out these answers and more, complete with an available buyer's guide chart.
Read the Robotiq article.

Robotic machine tending for CNC mills and lathes

At IMTS 2026, Mitsubishi Electric Automation will feature live demonstrations of LoadMate Plus and ARIA, two pre-engineered robotic machine tending solutions designed to help manufacturers automate CNC mills and lathes with confidence, flexibility, and scalability. LoadMate Plus is designed for quick setup and long-term deployment at a single machine. ARIA is a compact, configurable, and mobile solution for mill and lathe tending in space-constrained environments.
Learn more.

What's a ceramic motor-driven linear actuator?

PI, a global leader in precision motion control and nanoposi-tioning solutions, provides a large selection of piezo ceramic linear actuators for different size, speed, and force applications. At the top end of the force spectrum is the N-216 PiezoWalk Linear Actuator, a high-load, high-precision linear actuator designed for applications that require many millimeters of travel, high force, and extremely stable nanometer-class positioning. PiezoWalk technology offers significant advantages over traditional motorized actuators in precision, stability, and energy efficiency. Its non-magnetic drive principle and strong radiation-environment performance provide additional benefits.
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KUKA robots accelerate solar panel installation

It can be tough to find manpower to help build large solar farms. Watch how KUKA robots help workers for Sunstall, a construction company based in Novato, CA, that specializes in ground-mount systems for large solar utility sites. With each module weighing 70 to 80 lb, moving solar units can get tiring fast. Safety is an issue too. Cosmic Robotics (San Francisco) helped design and build the mobile system, which uses a KUKA KR 70 to do the heavy lifting of the panels and places them onto the racking with millimeter precision. [Credit: Video screenshot courtesy of KUKA Robotics]
View the video.

Economical gearbox series for delta robot drives

Neugart's new NDFC gearbox series expands its delta robot portfolio, balancing cost efficiency with reliability. Positioned below the NDF series, it features a proven output stage, robust sealing, and a dynamic clamping system. Available in three sizes (064, 090, 110) with ratios from 16 to 100, it offers adjustable backlash to optimize savings. Ideal for food, beverage, and packaging applications.
Learn more.

Heavier than a Boeing 747: Largest gas turbine in the world readied for two-week final-installation move

By GE Reports

EDF's gas turbine during production in Belfort, France.

 

 

Over the last year, GE engineers have been testing the largest, most efficient, and most powerful gas turbine in the world. It weighs as much as a Boeing 747 filled to the brim and, when paired with a steam turbine, can generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 600,000 French homes. (Its exhaust would fill up the Goodyear blimp in about 10 seconds.)

GE's factory in Belfort, France, finished the first production unit built for the French utility Electricite de France (EDF) the week of May 25.

Even if you don't care a whit about gas turbines, this machine, which GE calls 9HA, is a big deal. It can convert natural gas into electricity at a sky-high 61 percent efficiency, when paired with a steam turbine.

Blades made from superalloy monocrystals help the HA turbine manage temperatures as high as 2,900 deg F and extract more energy from fuel. The turbine channels air with variable stator vanes (the moving parts above), which were originally developed for supersonic jet engines.

 

 

 

 

The turbine can also zoom from cold iron to full power in less than 30 minutes. This speed is important because there are wind and solar plants cropping up all over Europe (and in other regions for that matter), and energy companies are increasingly looking for ways to smooth the supply peaks and valleys created when the sun gets behind a cloud or the wind stops blowing. The new turbine will give EDF new flexibility to integrate renewables onto the grid and respond quickly to weather changes.

"The efficiency alone is huge, but, taken all together, this is bigger than winning the Triple Crown of power generation," says Victor Abate, president and CEO of GE Power Generation Products.

The 9HA turbine for EDF. [Image credits: GE Power & Water]

 

 

GE engineers have also placed hundreds of sensors on the turbine to monitor temperatures, vibrations, and other conditions. The sensors will be able to feed the data over the Industrial Internet to software built on GE's Predix platform for analysis. EDF can use the results to improve performance and also to schedule maintenance and prevent unplanned downtime.

The first 9HA turbine will travel to EDF's power plant in Bouchain in northwest France in June by road and by barge. GE estimates that the two-week trip, which will have the 400-ton turbine mounted on a platform the length of a football field, will be one of the largest road transports in Europe's history.

GE's Abate says that although just 18 months ago the 9HA turbine was not even in GE's portfolio, the company has already $1 billion in orders. The first machines in the U.S. will serve inside two new power plants that are being built by Exelon in Texas.

Read more GE Reports at www.gereports.com.

Published June 2015

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