Smart drives make cable winder whirl
The H2 drive from Baldor Electric Co., Fort Smith, Ark., acts as both machine and motion controller in one package...
Smart brake uses built-in encoder
The new Smart Brake from Dings Co., Milwaukee (www.dingsbrakes.com), includes a hollow-shaft incremental encoder which provides continuous feedback for speed, direction, and positioning...
Self-aware robot adapts to injury
The underlying algorithm, according to the team, could be used to build more complex robots that can deal with uncertain situations, like space exploration, and may help in understanding human and animal behavior...
Pushbutton encoder as a membrane switch
A pushbutton encoder or rotary switch from Duraswitch, Mesa, Ariz. (www.duraswitch.com), called the thiNcoder-PB can be placed directly into layers of a membrane switch or flex circuit...
Pneumatics breathes new life into old books
Web sites, blogs, E-books, and other digital media have some pundits predicting the imminent demise of the printed word. But the fact is, digital technology may lead to more books than ever in print...
New encoders from Agilent
Agilent Technologies Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. (www.agilent.com), acquired exclusive rights to absolute-encoder technology from Optolab Microsystems AG, Erfurt, Germany (www.optolab.com), a sensor and systems design company...
Motor makes like a stage thanks to novel encoder
A servomotor mimics the performance of much more expensive rotary stages with help from a superhigh-res encoder having a tiny Z height. ...
Motion Control Merger
Minarik Corp., a leading motion control and automation distributor in Glendale, CA, has acquired PacMation Inc., thus combining PacMation engineering with Minarik field support...
Go bot racer, go! - The Darpa Grand Challenge
Navigate a race-prepped Humvee 250 miles across the desert from Barstow, Calif., to Las Vegas in 10 hr or less and collect $1 million in cash: Sounds reasonable, right?...
Gliding high with servos
It may sound like a low-tech way of flying military missions. But guided-parachute systems developed by Atair Aerospace Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., are anything but....
Extreme motors
Motors and actuators used in harsh environments such as inside nuclear reactors must be water resistant, noncontaminating, radiation insensitive, and controllable over long distances. In general, pneumatic and hydraulic actuators can meet these requirements but support equipment may be bulky and complex...
Encoder sealed against harsh environments
Machine shops are dirty places with dust, metal particles, and oil in the air, the type of environment that plays havoc with precision instruments. To make sure their feedback encoder would be immune to shop-floor dirt and debris, engineers at Newall Electronics, Columbus, Ohio, designed their Spherosyn digital linear encoder so that none of the mechanical or electrical components are exposed...
Encoder puts magnetic technology in small package
The MDE2-16 magnetic encoder from Micro-Drives, Clearwater, Fla...
Brushless Motion Technology Study
Factory Automation applications are widely scattered and distributed; each niche has its own dynamics and growth patterns. In response to this, Motion Tech Trends (MTT), is conducting a study to focus on...
$1 billion Chinese servo market only five years away
Last year, sales of servosystems (servomotors and drives) in China grew an estimated 26.8% to $362 million, according to a report by IMS Research, Wellingborough, U.K. servosystems account for over 80% of revenues in the Chinese motion-controls market...
