CGI Sponsors Youth Robotics Competition
CGI, Inc announces their pledge towards becoming the main event sponsor for the Northern Nevada FTC® Championship Tournament February 24-25 at Carson City High School, Carson City, NV.Founded by Dean Kamen in 1992, FIRST’s mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills. FIRST focuses on innovation and fosters well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication and leadership.Mike Madison, president of CGI, Inc. noted that he is proud to participate in FIRST as the main event sponsor for Northern Nevada FTC Championship. "As a ...

Mechatronics and Economic Recovery
Mechatronics is a major driver in economic recovery. That may sound like an extreme claim, but it is something I experience with some regularity. Every time someone comes up with a better solution for a process or new way to make a piece of machinery, there is economic recovery.Mechatronics doesn't get the attention of the President of the United States. Maybe it should. But the American economy is affected every time someone develops a new process or machine. It just doesn't make the headlines every time.When companies compete for and wind marketsthare based on sales of machinery that others use ...

The Next Industrial Revolution
Modern manufacturing is largely the result of Henry Ford’s innovation, assembly line mass production. The goal of which was primarily to make cars available to large numbers of people due to significantly lowered costs. No other single innovation has contributed as much to increase the quality of living conditions throughout the world. Mass production has made more goods available to more people in more places than any other system in the history of mankind.The electric light, for example, which was coveted 100 years ago as the great solution to night time darkness, making obsolete the candle or gas lamp. Mass ...

ABB adds midrange robot for the 12 to 20 kg payload class
ABB Robotics introduced the IRB 2600, the latest model in its medium capacity range of multipurpose robots. This robot is compact but with an ultra-wide working range and a payload capacity up to 20 kg. It also offers the best accuracy and speed in its class, improving productivity through increased output, faster cycle times and lower scrap rates. It is suited for arc welding, machine tending, material handling and a variety of process applications.The IRB 2600 is the second introduction from ABB’s fourth-generation of midrange industrial robots, a structured portfolio redesign that began with the 2009 introduction of the IRB ...

Landcrawler Robot Wobbles But Doesn’t Fall
This funny lookin’ fella weighs just 27 pounds, has 12 legs, and can carry you around on its back if you let it.The Land Crawler xTreme robot offers its master a ride on top of its square platform top, provided you don’t weigh more than 175 pounds. As it ambles around, it definitely doesn’t look like the smoothest or speediest way to get around the place, but it sure has got plenty of style doing it.Funny thing is the maker of the robot says he made the Land Crawler eXtreme as a toy for his 2-year old ...

Mechatronic Commentary
There is a perception that Motion Control technology can be somewhat pricey. This...
Mechatronics is a major driver in economic recovery. That may sound like an extreme...
In my travels, I continue to find people hard at work doing something that has never...
Click Here for more Mechatronic CommentaryMechatronic Automation
There is a perception that Motion Control technology can be somewhat pricey. This...
When does a rotating load require a drive or a servo? I run into this issue on...
Minarik Drives Announces Distribution Agreement with Kaman Industrial TechnologiesMinarik Drives is very pleased to announce that it has signed and implemented a National...
Read More on Mechatronic AutomationManufacturing Trends
There is a perception that Motion Control technology can be somewhat pricey. This...
Mechatronics is a major driver in economic recovery. That may sound like an extreme...
Read More on Manufacturing TrendsRobotics
CGI Sponsors Youth Robotics CompetitionCGI, Inc announces their pledge towards becoming the main event sponsor for the Northern...
Motion control is all about control. But you cannot control what you cannot measure....
The earthquake in Japan brings us face to face with another challenge to the engineering...
Read More on RoboticsGreen Engineering
In my travels, I continue to find people hard at work doing something that has never...
Modern manufacturing is largely the result of Henry Ford’s innovation, assembly...
Read More on Green EngineeringElectronics
In an era where energy costs have become a focus of attention, many people have authored...
While considering the nature of control we tend to focus on the two big issues; hardware...
‘Control’ is a term for the use of binary calculation methods to execute...
Read More on ElectronicsMotion Controls
There is a perception that Motion Control technology can be somewhat pricey. This is a constant challenge to engineers seeking to develop new applications. The problem is that prototyping a new application may have little or no resemblance to the hardware required in production. The gap between prototyping and production is quite significant,... [Read more]
Mechatronics is a major driver in economic recovery. That may sound like an extreme claim, but it is something I experience with some regularity. Every time someone comes up with a better solution for a process or new way to make a piece of machinery, there is economic recovery. Mechatronics doesn’t get the attention of the President of the... [Read more]
In my travels, I continue to find people hard at work doing something that has never been done before. With the hope of making a profit while doing it. Just such a situation came up recently when I met with the owner and founder of Transcon Steel. Among the mainstays of an industrial economy is construction, housing and commercial in particular.... [Read more]
The old business school motto, doing more with less, can have some interesting applications. American manufacturing is going through a renaissance of sorts. Across many industries there are substantial efforts to bring more manufacturing back to the US. A lot of it is precisely ‘doing more with less’. How do we make the same quality... [Read more]
When does a rotating load require a drive or a servo? I run into this issue on a weekly basis. Everyone has their own answer. As much as this may be a matter of opinion for most people, there are some guidelines that can help make this question more straightforward. Some people define servo’s as closed loop versus drives which are open... [Read more]
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