Megatrends in Mechatronics

The raw materials of mechatronics are basic. Silicon based processors and power semiconductors are among the primary building blocks of the electronic side of mechatronics.

As with most things electronic, the more we use the lower the cost over time. Over the last few years the power of processors used in motor control applications has increased dramatically. Costs for these chips have remained very low, to the point where 32 bit processors are now available from companies like Luminary Micro, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments compete with 8 and 16 bit predecessors.

Power semiconductor prices have been falling for some time. Miniaturized modules for IGBT regulation of 3 phase AC motors have become widely available with most of the required circuitry designed in. These devices will continue to enable the manufacture of AC inverters that are the size of electromagnetic starters with prices that will continue to amaze. Offshore suppliers are delivering low end AC drives around the $100 mark for fractional through 1HP, which will continue to challenge major electrical suppliers.

In the sensor arena, one of the more interesting possibilities is the accelerometer. The impact (pun intended) of the accelerometer cannot be underestimated because it is the one device that makes velocity and acceleration information directly. This is a huge value in motion systems in better describing actual load conditions.

With the advent of the Nintendo Wii, the accelerometer is now one of the most widely used sensors in the world. This will inevitably lead to falling prices for the technology and open a floodgate of applications for the technology.

Where will all this lead? Hopefully to further performance gains for all of us involved in mechatronics technology. Accelerometer feedback offers closed loop measurement of acceleration behavior in loads that previously could not be directly measures.

Decreasing costs for power semiconductors and controllers for electric motors suggest new architectures that will lead to greater energy efficiency and lower overall cost for the many electrically commutated motors technologies.

Despite difficult economic times, there are many opportunities to innovate and be creative. Explore new solutions and discover what the new possibilities make possible in real world applications. That’s what we need to keep moving forward.

Energy, Cost and Responsiblity

Energy conservation is on many people’s minds these days, and that’s a good thing. Thinking about the problem, doing some research and listening to what people are saying about the various manifestations of energy usage helps us to make better decisions as individuals.

But it’s not helpful when the terms aren’t defined. So let’s take the example of the washing machine. Many manufacturers make machines which reduce the direct energy required by 30-40%. Some of the front loader machines will also reduce water consumption by 80%.

But water consumption has only an indirect impact on energy, unless you want to analyze the energy cost of water treatment and all it’s input components. As it turns out, water treatment is very efficient and I have paid 2.96/1000 gallons recently. That takes all the costs into account, including delivery.

The direct energy used by the washing machine is hard to get at. The maximum power service needed by the machine is 10 Amps at 120 Volts AC or 1200 watts, although the machine rarely uses anything like that. My washer is a top loader with a 3/4 horsepower AC inverter motor. So its using about 560 watts except when it starts up with a full load. Maybe it takes about 1.5KW per load to do wash.

If it takes 1.5KW to run a load of wash, and we do 10 loads a week, we run about 750KW a year and at 11.5 cents per kilowatt we would pay about $86.25 in direct cost. A 30% saving is $25.88 cents.

Add to that a 10 gallon per wash load cost for water, or about 5000 gallons of water a year doing the wash. That’s 14.80 cents with a potential saving of $11.84. A combined saving of $37.42 a year in water and electricity.

A new $1600. washing machine with a 20 year life expectancy will cost me $80/year (and I hope it will last that long with no service costs). More that twice the cost of the amount saved. So I am losing $42.58 a year on my investment.

I have no disagreements with energy savings and conservation. I think electric cars are the future. I joined that industry in 1994, before there was an electric car industry. Its just taking longer.

I have a big issue with conversations that obscure the economics. There is a real risk of engaging in large scale energy projects without discussion of the system payback. The choices we make as individuals are our own business and privilege in a free society. But when government money is involved, there is a responsibility to disclose what the investment cost, payback and return on investment of the public funds is going to be.  And it needs to be real.

Honda Tests 49 Foot Robot

TORRANCE, Calif.–Honda (http://www.honda.com) will test its unique Rose Parade float as part of a rehearsal of the parade’s opening show, conducted for media and invited guests in Pasadena, Calif., revealing the float design and giving parade fans a glimpse of this year’s event. Honda’s Rose Parade float, a 49-foot replica of Honda’s ASIMO humanoid robot, and the parade’s first-ever hydrogen-powered fuel cell pace car, the Honda FCX Clarity, will lead the 120th Rose Parade as well as kick off Honda’s 50th anniversary of U.S. operations.

In front of the millions of viewers watching from around the world on Jan. 1, 2009, Honda’s float will evolve from an opening ceremony stage into an animated replica of Honda’s ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), standing about 12 times the height of the actual ASIMO humanoid robot. Honda’s float creation called “Hats Off in Celebration” will be completed with natural materials like lettuce seed, rice, carnations and strawflower. The float will be joined by the Prairie View A&M University Marching Band, a past participant in the Honda Battle of the Bands which features the music programs of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. A few members of the band will ride on the float, which will be immediately followed by the entire marching band. In addition, during the parade the FCX Clarity pace car will be accompanied by the Honda Super Cub motorcycle, the first model sold in the United States.

The Honda float includes a variety of flowers, plants and seeds that will later be ground up for mulch after the parade activities are concluded. The surface of ASIMO will be covered with super fine ground white rice and super fine ground everlasting; it is accented by fine cut blue statice and fine cut red statice as well as silverleaf to create accents and “shadows.” Fine cut everlasting, whole red carnations and white chrysanthemums will bring vivid color to Honda’s 50th anniversary logos, which will be decorated by Honda associates (employees) on December 27.

Honda is one of the parade’s longest-running corporate sponsors, and its Rose Parade entries have captured major awards in 13 out of the last 14 years. Honda is the official Tournament of Roses vehicle. This year, the company will provide 115 vehicles, including the Honda FCX Clarity pace car; 166 Metropolitan scooters; and, 12 generators for use by Tournament of Roses personnel. The 120th Rose Parade, themed “Hats off to Entertainment,” will take place Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2009 at 8 a.m. (PST).

PTC® Selected as Key Sponsor for FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Program

MANCHESTER, N.H.–FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to inspiring the next generation of innovators and engineers, and PTC®, The Product Development Company®, announced today that PTC has agreed to a three-year sponsorship of the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) program.

As the CAD and Collaboration sponsor, PTC will provide its Pro/ENGINEER®, Mathcad®, Windchill®, and ProductView™ CAD and collaboration software to all FTC teams at no cost. This software will allow teams to build their robots in a virtual environment using models of parts supplied in the FTC Competition Kit. The groups will also be able to collaborate within their own teams, with other teams, and with mentors and industry sponsors using PTC’s Windchill.

The sponsorship also includes a named design award, recognizing teams that use innovative design approaches in their solution. The PTC Design Award recognizes design elements of the FTC robot that are both functional and aesthetic.

“The challenge for tomorrow’s engineers will not only be to build great products but to collaborate, prototype, and refine their designs digitally before the actual build. PTC’s sponsorship allows FTC teams to use the tools to do this as part of the FTC competition,” said Ken Johnson, director, FIRST Tech Challenge. ”It is our hope that FTC will be in every high school in the world. It is very affordable and scales quickly into schools, districts, states, and national competitions.”

Paul R. Gudonis, president of FIRST, said, “We are very pleased to have PTC support our FIRST Tech Challenge program by signing-on as the three-year CAD and Collaboration Sponsor and providing robust software to our teams. PTC’s innovative product design software tools will significantly enhance the quality of the robot build experience for our FTC teams and gives them exposure to real-world design applications as they design, build, and test the robots competing at these events.”

“PTC is very excited about the expansion of its partnership with FIRST into the FIRST Tech Challenge program. PTC is delighted to provide not only our software and curriculum to these teams, but also access to our eco-system of customers, partners, and employees that are equally committed to inspiring students to pursue technology and engineering professions,” said James Heppelmann, executive vice president and chief product officer, PTC.

PTC software is immediately available to all FTC teams. FTC teams can get access by visiting http://www.ptc.com/go/first/. This page also provides links to online tutorials to help teams get started.

FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is a challenging mid-level robotics competition designed for high-school-aged students who want a hands-on learning experience to develop and hone their skills and abilities in science, technology, engineering, and math. FTC was designed for teams who want the same real-world challenges as the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC); but who require a more affordable build kit and more geographically accessible events. FIRST Tech Challenge is an ideal next step for students moving from FIRST LEGO® League (FLL) or prior to participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC).

Expert forum on the future of Service Robotics

The Lauffen, Germany based clamping and gripping specialist SCHUNK will be holding a new edition of the Service Robotics Expert Days on February 18th and 19th, 2009. The international expert forum will be attended by leading authorities in the field, bringing together experts from all around the world. A wide range of presentations in English will give participants an overview of the current situation and future possibilities for the Service Robotics industry.
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The Tools, They are a Changing’

(regarding the title, just think Bob Dylan’s “The Times They are a Changin”)

Just as Computer Aided Design, CAD, has revolutionized the design process, it is growing in capability and impacting many other arenas of engineering. The first major extensions to CAD were integration of Finite Element Analysis, the ability to analyze loads on the parts being created.  And certainly, if the design software can model the complex aspects of loading, then animation of part motion can’t be a far reach.  And that’s the case today. Read more

Mission: Efficiency

Think-tank for mechatronics and miniaturization

How do machinery and equipment manufacturers keep up with worldwide competition? With (energy) efficient solutions! “Mechatronics, miniaturization, piezo technology and systems technology are catchwords which aren’t just pointing the way towards more efficiency in emerging business areas like photovoltaic”, says Dr. Eberhard Veit, chairman of the board of directors at Festo AG.

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Yokogawa’s DLM2000 Mixed Signal Oscilloscopes

Tokyo, Japan-Yokogawa Electric Corporation releases the new DLM2000 series of mid-range mixed signal oscilloscopes (MSOs).

DLM2000 series mid-range oscilloscopes are compact, lightweight, and inexpensive. As such they present a new direction for mixed signal oscilloscopes, meeting customer needs in the increasingly digitized mechatronics and electronics fields. In the 200 MHz to 500 MHz bandwidth range, this product series delivers the highest performance in its class. An industry first, these MSOs are ideal for personal use and are being presented to the market under our new concept of “One person, one MSO.” Yokogawa aims to develop this new personal MSO market and capture the top share.

Development Background
In recent years, electronic devices and embedded systems have been built into products as varied as information appliances, automobiles, and industrial machinery. To inspect such products and analyze their performance, there is a growing need for oscilloscopes that can simultaneously measure analog and digital signals. According to our survey, approximately 70 percent of oscilloscope customers need to measure digital signals, and half of these need an oscilloscope with 8 channels or less.

However, the mixed signal oscilloscopes currently on the market are either waveform observation models without search and other analysis functions needed for software debugging or are large, expensive, and difficult-to-use high-range models for measuring ultra-high-speed signals in electronic devices. Customers therefore have no choice but to use a high-range mixed signal oscilloscope even for measuring digital signals having 8 channels or less. Yokogawa’s DLM2000 series mixed signal oscilloscopes are optimized for exactly this group of customers.

Product Features
1. Compact, lightweight, and inexpensive MSO for personal use
These compact (293 mm height x 226 mm width x 193 mm depth), lightweight (4.5 kilograms), and inexpensive MSOs are made possible by the newly developed ScopeCORE LSI engine, on which key oscilloscope technologies have embedded with a high density. This MSO is perfect for personal use.
2. Flexible MSO input
The fourth channel of these MSOs is a flexible MSO input that can be switched between analog and digital. Up to either 4 analog channels or 3 analog channels plus 8 digital channels (8-bit logic) can be input.
3. High-speed sampling and largest memory in its class
The maximum sampling rate of 2.5 GS/s is six times faster than that of the previous product series, and the maximum memory size of 125 Mpts is four times larger.
4. Intuitive, easy operations
Various menu and panel features enhance the ease of operations. These include improved waveform display on a screen that is two times larger than the previous model, the dedicated knobs according to frequency of use, and the use of eight languages in menus and panels.

Major Target Markets
Mechatronics related manufacturers in industries such as automobiles and industrial machinery Manufacturers of information appliances, AV devices, communication devices, and office equipment

Applications
Design and evaluation of electronic and electric circuits Development and debugging of electronic devices, microcomputers, and firmware on embedded devices

www.yokogawa.com

Intelligent Automation Trio

When it comes to repositioning small parts quickly and flexibly, the combined tripod camera system really hits the mark. This complete solution from Festo, consisting of robotic controller, high-speed camera and fast electric drives, is delivered as a ready-to-install subsystem, thus saving both time and money.
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Does More Simulation Mean Companies Profit More From Its Use?

BOSTON, MA — Increasing product complexity combined with the ever pressing market pressures to develop these products faster and cheaper requires new ways of exploring product performance. A recent report by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), “Engineering Evolved: Getting Mechatronics Performance Right the First Time,” finds that an increasing number of companies are responding with an “early and often” approach to the use of simulation tools. According to Aberdeen’s research, it’s a response that’s getting results, including an average savings of $332,673 and 118 days for complex products. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5359.
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