THine Electronics, Inc. and California Eastern Laboratories, Inc. now offer a Camera Development Kit (CDK) — a design tool for advanced camera system developers. More advanced camera systems require specialized co-dependency of multiple components, resulting in more complicated design challenges. ISP firmware design is one of the hardest challenges, as it depends on (1) CMOS…
Universal Robots co-founder and CTO wins robotics Engelberger Award
The Robotic Industries Association (RIA) has named Esben Østergaard the recipient of the latest Engelberger Robotics Award. Østergaard spearheads the development of Universal Robots’ collaborative robot arms representing one of the most significant technology breakthroughs coming out of the robotics community in decades. The Engelberger Awards Dinner and Ceremony will be on Wednesday, June 20,…
SMAC MGR6 micro gripper handles parts with force down to 2.5 g
SMAC Moving Coil Actuators now sells MGR6 micro grippers. The SMAC MGR6 gripper has a very low moving mass with two independent axes, and, thanks to a patented Soft-Land routine, is capable of light, controlled forces. It can be used as an end effector on third party robots. The unit sells for less than $1,000…
Robotic joining technology from KUKA and Böllhoff called Ready2_rivet imparts new flexibility
KUKA now sells a new ready2_use robotic module called ready2_rivet. The self-pierce riveting system for body-in-white (BiW) applications was developed with fastener and assembly supplier Böllhoff. End users can integrate the self-pierce riveting machine with less effort than in the past. “Using the KUKA robot and controller with the expertise in mechanical joining technology of…
Swisslog, KUKA collaborate on CarryPick AGV-based system
Global warehouse automation specialist Swisslog recently worked with KUKA to strengthen its AGV-based CarryPick system — namely by bringing mobile goods-to-person systems in-house. CarryPick is an automated storage and order fulfillment system. It works as a flexible and scalable asset for supporting multi-channel fulfillment operations. The CarryPick system’s new KMP600 AGV was developed in an…
LBR iisy cobot and mechatronics: KUKA at Hannover Messe 2018
KUKA is showcasing intelligent automation concepts for production at Hannover Messe under the motto industrial intelligence 4.0 — beyond automation. Visitors to Booth G04 in Hall 17 can see KUKA technologies to support mechatronics and IIoT digitization. Ease of use, quick commissioning, and networking are increasingly shaping the mechanical engineering sector. KUKA is addressing these…
Prophesee introduces Onboard reference system for event-based machine vision in IIoT applications
Prophesee SA (formerly Chronocam) now sells its first commercial implementation of its event-based vision technology for machines. The Onboard reference system could help developers of vision-enabled industrial automation systems such as robots, inspection equipment, and monitoring and surveillance devices. It features a Prophesee-enabled VGA-resolution camera combined with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and can be quickly…
igus will unveil low-cost 6-axis robotic joint at Hannover Messe
Plastic-motion-component maker igus could advance the collaborative-robotics industry when it unveils its low-cost ReBeL robotics joint at Hannover Messe 2018. The maintenance-free joint works in residential and commercial applications. The ReBeL gives a sixth rotation axis to modular robolink arms to let them reach myriad positions. According to igus, the new ReBeL will also make robots serving…
RE2 Robotics wins $2.9 million U.S. Air Force contract to develop a robotic airfield-damage recovery system
RE2 Robotics has won a $2.9 million Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award to develop a drop-in robotic kit to help the Air Force use existing construction ground vehicles as robotic vehicles during cleanup efforts after an airfield strike. “By creating the capability to easily turn construction vehicles into robotic systems without losing…
Vision Research high-speed Phantom S990 streaming camera for machine-vision applications
Vision Research, a leading manufacturer of digital high-speed imaging systems, now sells the Phantom S990, the world’s fastest machine vision camera. The S990 features the right combination of fast frame rate, high resolution and available throughput for use in demanding machine vision applications in multiple industries. The camera combines world-class, high-speed image quality with record-breaking…
Matrox Imaging Rapixo CXP Series frame grabbers: See at Vision Show in Boston
Matrox Imaging will soon sell Matrox Rapixo CXP multi-link CoaXPress 2.0 frame grabbers. Leveraging the latest version of CoaXPress, the boards support data rates of up to four times 12.5 Gbps, with a PCIe x8 host computer interface to match — as needed in high-speed, high-resolution machine vision applications. The Matrox Rapixo CXP will be available in…
Genesis Robotics enters into strategic venture with Koch Industries
Koch Chemical Technology Group (KCTG) has made a strategic and controlling investment in Genesis Advanced Technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. KCTG is the industrial-technology and engineered-equipment unit of Koch Industries. Under the agreement, a new company called Genesis Robotics and Motion Technologies (Genesis Robotics) will commercialize electric motor and actuation technologies, including the…
Teledyne DALSA’s new area cameras feature Sony IMX250-MZR polarized image sensor
Teledyne DALSA now sells a new Genie Nano camera built around the Sony Pregius 5.1M polarized image sensor. The Genie Nano-M2450-Polarized model features a monochrome quad polarization filter, resolution of 2448 x 2048 pixels, and image capture of 35 frames-per-second. With Teledyne DALSA’s TurboDrive technology, frame rates can increase by as much as 50%. TurboDrive for…
Plastic igus Parts Power FIRST Robotics Team to 3 Records
Two high school robotics teams from Pittsburgh, Pa. recently used products from igus, a German-based manufacturer of engineered plastics with a presence in East Providence, R.I., to set four world records in this year’s FIRST Tech Challenge global robotics competition. Team #8393 — The Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team, captained by senior James Walton —…
IDS Releases New Firmware for GigE Vision Cameras
The Robotics Summit and Showcase is just a couple months away. Find out all about our agenda here and register by April 20 for a 20% discount to learn from the best in the robotics industry. IDS now offers new firmware (1.3) to extend the functional range of its GigE Vision industrial cameras. New capabilities…
Robotics to mainstream at MD&M West (ATX West) 2018
This year’s MD&M (and ATX) West is dominated by a common theme of automating and robotizing an array of new manufacturing, semiconductor, and medical end uses. Earlier this week we blogged at motioncontroltips.com about how that relates to the application of motion-control and power-transmission technologies; today we profile robotics we’ve seen at the show. ATI Industrial…
Stäubli Smart Factory, sensitive-environment robots at ATX West
Stäubli will showcase a variety of products this week in Anaheim at ATX West (booth #4461) — including its new TX2 line of collaborative robots. Stäubli offers a complete range of dynamic robots for challenging industrial environments including life sciences, medical, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food, electronics, semiconductors, cleanrooms and laboratories. Stäubli Robotics will simulate a realistic…
Universal Robots launching Zero Footprint Palletizer at ATX West
Attendees of ATX West in Anaheim, California next week will get hands-on experience of how user-friendly collaborative robots (cobots) safely and effortlessly automate some of the most common manufacturing tasks in the industry. Universal Robots’ ATX booth #4616 is the launch pad for the Zero Footprint Palletizer (ZFP), which is now ready for distribution in…
ATX West Exhibitor Epson Will Show Factory Automation Robots
Epson Robots will be showcasing unique, innovative, high precision robotics setups designed for maximum efficiency and productivity for a wide variety of applications in factory automation at the Automation Technology show, ATX West. Visit Epson at the Anaheim Convention Center — Booth 4109 — February 6 to 8, 2018. The showcase will feature the new…
Murrplastik R-TecLiner Dress Pack for Robotics Applications: Long-life Energy Delivery Plus Simple Implementation
The new Murrplastik R-TecLiner self-contained dress pack system is designed to guide energy packs from the third to the sixth axis on industrial robots. Murrplastik will showcase its robotic dress pack lineup at ATX West 2018 (booth #4355) at the Anaheim Convention Center — February 6 to 8, 2018. R-TecLiner’s unique spring return mechanism effectively…
AGV Designs: Re-envisioning Material Handling
Autonomous or automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are those compact wheeled conveyances that tote, tow, trailer, lift, shift, rotate, rack and store, or otherwise transport goods along defined paths set by guidance systems. New iterations of these robotic designs are on the rise. In fact, AGVs — a relatively mature technology in the field of robotics…
Harmonic Drive at CES 2018 January 9 to 12 in Robotics Marketplace
Harmonic Drive LLC will be exhibiting at CES 2018 in Las Vegas in the Robotics Marketplace in South Hall, booth 25843. Harmonic Drive products are relied upon every day throughout the robotics community. Come see a live demo of the RoboMantis mobile robot from Motiv Robotics. Attendes will also get an up-close look at the Phoenix exoskeleton…