Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

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.
Learn more.

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.

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.
Learn more.

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.

Robot learning is child's play, according to U.S. Navy researchers

By Warren Duffie, Office of Naval Research

The future of human-robot partnerships could be revolutionized by child's play -- specifically, the play of babies.

A team of researchers led by Dr. Rajesh Rao, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, recently published a paper showing how robots can learn much like children -- amassing data by watching adults do something, determining the goal of the action, and then deciding how to perform it on their own. Rao's work is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). You can view the paper here.

"This is a major step in designing robots that can learn from watching humans," said Dr. Micah Clark, a program officer in ONR's Warfighter Performance Department who oversees Rao's research. "It could one day result in truly intelligent machines that understand the intent and goals behind certain tasks, and help humans achieve those goals."

A University of Washington researcher conducts an experiment in which a robot learns to track human head movements. Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the work is led by Dr. Rajesh Rao, studying whether robots can learn through human speech or body movement. [Photo courtesy: Dr. Rajesh Rao]

 

 

 

 

For decades, scientists, writers, and filmmakers have envisioned a future where robots make human life safer and easier by doing mundane household chores or helping troops in battle.

Rao believes this type of artificial intelligence might be achieved with inspiration from the most adorable and inquisitive of humans: babies.

"Babies learn about the world around them through play," said Rao, "grabbing toys, pulling them apart, banging them on the floor, or pushing them off tables. This self-exploration helps babies learn the physics of their environments, and how their actions influence objects."

Rao collaborated with Dr. Andrew Meltzoff, a respected child psychologist and co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington. Meltzoff's work (not sponsored by ONR) shows that children as young as 18 months can infer the goal of an adult's actions and develop ways of reaching that goal themselves.

Using data from behavioral tests conducted by Meltzoff involving babies, Rao's team designed a machine-learning model to allow robots to explore how their actions result in diverse outcomes.

They tested the model in two types of experiments. The first was a "gaze" computer simulation where the robot learned to track the head movements of others to determine where they were looking. The second involved the robot watching humans move toys around on a tabletop, and then being left to play with the toys on its own.

Rao's team observed several patterns. After trial and error, the robot was able to figure out the consequences of its actions on the toys. It learned, for example, that a particular toy was harder to pick up than push, and that pushing a toy too close to the edge would make it fall.

The robot could observe and infer the goal of a human action on a toy, and achieve the same goal but with a different action it considered more reliable. For example, it could push instead of pick up a toy and place it at a particular table spot. It could even signal for human help when it felt its actions were too unreliable.

"To get a robot to perform a task like picking up a toy, you normally have to code instructions or physically move a robotic limb with a joystick or other controller," said Rao. "Our research might make it possible for people to eventually train and program robots through demonstration and speech, much like parents teach their children. This would be useful to our military in jobs like disarming explosive devices, fighting fires, transporting heavy equipment, or going into combat zones, where there is a premium on teaching robots new skills on the fly."

Rao and his team plan on scaling up their learning model and designing more sophisticated robots to perform more complex tasks. His work is part of ONR's Science of Autonomy Program.

Published April 2016

Rate this article