The Post-Star is reporting that SUNY Adirondack—a public college in Queensbury, N.Y. with 3,000 students—is planning to add associate degree programs in robotics and mechanical technology to meet the needs of local employers. The paper noted that the school’s board of trustees approved creating an associate degree program in mechatronics last week and that existing […]

Eplan Data Portal—previously hosted on servers in Germany—has now migrated to the Microsoft Azure Platform. Due to its exponential growth in the last years, the previous deployed solution had reached its limits. Explaining the decision to switch to Azure, Global Director Eplan Data Portal Stefan Domdey said: “Looking ahead to our international growth, we wanted […]

I think you would have to live under a rock to have not been exposed to the term “additive manufacturing.” 3D printing, quite honestly, there was somewhat of a hype bubble that has burst, but the good news is the market is transitioning from that hype hangover and really getting down to business and getting […]

In terms of feedback, there are applications that require absolute feedback, whether that be rotary, single turn, multi-turn, the idea of in a power loss not losing position. There are absolutely applications where that’s required and examples would be extremely high value parts. If you have coordinated motion where, imagine, that you’ve moved X, Y, […]

Let’s talk about the simplest stepper motor. You can buy stepper motors on Amazon, right? How do they differ from a high performance stepper motor that may actually be the same price, or a slightly higher price? When a manufacturer makes a high quality motor, they want to go ahead and have the air gap […]

As it relates to mechatronic solutions, what we’re seeing is people migrate, to go ahead and utilize smart motor technology with the most prominent industrial networks tied into them, whether that be, if you’re an Allen-Bradley fan, even an IP, Beckhoff and others, EtherCAT, the variants of fieldbuses that are out there, Modbus, Profibus, over […]

Among the many rights that are reserved to the States of the United States is the right to license motor vehicles for operation on public roadways.  Last week these rights came into conflict with Uber’s driverless vehicle testing program in San Francisco.  In particular there are safety concerns for the citizenry of any state where […]

The future of electric power is full of uncertainty.  How we generate power, where we generate power, how we deliver power are all important issues that are driving change in the utility industry.  Those changes will factor into the future price of electricity, but even more important is understanding the demand side.  Will power demand […]

Among the difficulties in  mechatronics are the many relationships within any given system.  In most cases we approach each application from a certain perspective and somewhat randomly try to sort out he most important relationships in terms that are familiar to us as individuals.  For the mechanical engineer it is easiest to interpret mechatronics as […]

Machines are designed to fulfill a purpose.  That purpose is usually to solve a specific problem. In broad terms, machines convert input energy into motion to perform a task or produce a product.  Machines are inanimate, even though they often exhibit motion through the use of mechanisms.  Machinery is primarily about doing work, doing it […]

In order to have a discussion about artificial intelligence, we need to understand what intelligence is.  Just defining what intelligence is, is no small thing.  Mankind has been trying to define it for as long as we have been around.  Rats can exhibit considerable intelligence by solving a maze using cognitive and problem solving intelligence. […]

Computers have, so far, shown no signs of evolving.  No cellphone has initiated a phone call on it’s own or started a conversation with a human. The science of statistics suggests that a room full of monkeys will someday generate a Shakespeare play.  Something to do with random processes and time.  A computer will never […]

The English language is the de facto second language of the world.  And with respect to the many great contributions of science pioneers in all the many cultures of the world, English ends up as the language of engineering and control systems.  Not really surprising since English is also the primary language of commerce, even […]

Generating electrical power for use by consumers or industry is a big business.  There is a lot of applied science required in order to make it all work.  Strangely the dominant method of generating electricity is almost always by burning something to make steam, the steam turns a turbine that is attached to a generator. […]

Delivering electric power across the United States was an incredible accomplishment that spanned decades.  From the early electric ‘grids’ in urban areas dedicated to bringing electric light to millions of customers to the giant electric GRID that we have today has changed society forever. there are many issues with the current grid.  The fact that […]

More than any other form of power, electricity has the virtue of portability. Compared to steam, hydraulic or any other form of power, electrons are easier to move than anything else, even when there are lots of them.  In the ‘War of the Currents’ we discovered that alternating current was even more portable than direct […]

Machine learning is a special branch of artificial intelligence.  Sadly, a lot of the terminology used in discussion of these subjects is ambiguous and designed to suggest equivalence with humans at some level.  At this point, none of the applications of artificial intelligence are anything of the sort. There are, however, a number of applications […]

In manufacturing circles, the recent headline that Foxconn, Apple’s biggest contract manufacturer, intends to install 60,000 robots to replace workers is big news.  The implications of that news are something we should all take time to consider. Work.  Is there anything we do to avoid it?  Since the earliest days of the industrial revolution human […]

3D printing is making a big splash in the market.  There have been a number of variants of the technology that are driving very complex changes into the manufacturing landscape, and it’s making the lines of demarcation a little blurry.  That’s intentional since the key value of printed parts is reducing the cost threshold to […]

How we do work has changed dramatically over the last few hundred years.  We can arbitrarily refer to the Industrial Revolution using steam power as Industrie 1.0, irrespective of the fact that we should really be talking about Industry 2.0 or 3.0 based on a more appropriate historical context. Even assuming 1.0, Industrie 2.0 would […]

Work is what we do to feed, clothe and shelter ourselves and our loved ones.  Work is that effort required to achieve survival and safety.  Throughout human history and even today in some rural areas, work is as basic as finding water and food.  The various inventions around doing work, providing water, food and shelter, […]

For decades we have had the Machine Tool Show in Chicago every two years.  Currently the show, formerly know as the International Machine Tool Show is now being re-branded as the International Manufacturing Technology Show.  And that’s a good thing.  They get to keep the same IMTS letters. While the show has a long tradition […]