One of the mechatronic Top Ten applications has to be the hard disk drive. Strangely, it is not an application that you hear much about. That’s probably because unless you work on hard disk drive design, you pretty much take for granted that little black box that stores all your information. So the group that […]
P-PIP’s Play Important Role in International Robotics But Not in the U.S.
Europe (EUROP), Japan (JARA) and Korea (21C Frontier) use P-PIPs for public/private investment partnerships to foster focused robotic growth Korea is particularly serious and is investing $1 billion to be #1 in the worldwide robotics industry by 2018 Other than DARPA and NASA, the US has no comparable P-PIPs
Robotics in small and medium manufacturing
The European consortium SME Robot has completed their project to develop, test and provide intuitively trainable, space-saving, safe, 3-day deployable robots for small and medium sized manufacturers (SMEs). Watch their video which encapsulates their efforts. US needs public/private initiatives to catch up is crux of recent presentation to US Congressional Robotics Caucus Heartland Robotics presented…
iRobot debuts pocket-sized robotic scout
iRobot has introduced their $100 Ember – a rugged pocket-sized scout suitable for every soldier. A little box with camera, mapping and flippers to enable comprehensive viewing. Thrown like a grenade, the Ember can see what the soldier must see to prevent ambush. See the Ember in action
Energy Equivalence or Not
Among the many issues facing us today is the cost of personal transportation. To a large extent, modern American manufacturing was built largely on making cars and all the steel, carpet, glass and all the other products that are required in a car. Interestingly, the electronics sector of our economy, far bigger than automotive, has […]
Linear Motors
The linear motor has been a relatively recent addition to the electric motor world, considering the age of the ac motor is just about 100 years. Linear motors have grown up primarily in the semiconductor industry where extraordinary precision and speed is required. And as with all systems that offer the ultimate in performance, they […]
Peak versus Continuous Power
Another aspect of applying electric motors to power mechanical systems is the relationship between peak power and continuous power. In mechanical systems the forces required to start a load may have no relationship to the power required to keep the system running. Further, the ideal demand for mechanical power may occur at a speed that […]
RIA Q1 Results: Orders Up >50% For Food & Consumer Goods and Healthcare Robotic Devices
MAKO Surgical Goes Haptic (by licensing Immersion Corp. technology)
Worldwide license for haptic patents for use in orthopedic robotic products
New Yorkers Are Ready For Robots
For her thesis, she designed a uni-directional cardboard robot that needed assistance to get from one end of a park to the other — and people willingly and courteously guided it, even talked to it
Super Size my Motor?
There is an interesting problem with applying electric motors that is a constant source of difficulty, the nature of peak power versus continuous power. The problem is that few systems operate at a statistical average power demand. Frequently, this causes equipment designers to oversize the motor for the application. At the same time, however, this […]