Automation & Controls

Dual-wire EDM automation cell helps Twin City EDM meet customer needs.

Automation enables part manufacturers to boost efficiency, but limitations remain.

Orion, Michigan-based Applied Manufacturing Technologies (AMT), an independent automation engineering company supporting manufacturers, robot companies, systems integrators, line builders and users of robotic automation worldwide, announced the promotion of Rick Vanden Boom to vice president of sales and the hire of Mark McGinnis as director of systems engineering.

igus has released a new collaborative robot cable management kit with universally-designed hook-and-loop mounting brackets and more than 100 links of the company's innovative triflex R cable carrier, which offers enhanced cable protection compared to corrugated tubes.

RobotWorx, an Ohio based company that focuses on quality industrial robotic solutions and customized integration, has announced a strategic partnership with Octopuz Inc. The new collaboration will allow RobotWorx to expand its service offerings into offline robot programming with a leading software creator.

Enabling end-to-end factory manufacturing through total solution offerings, Panasonic offers its new autonomous delivery system. Fully integrated with the company's PanaCIM Solutions Ecosystem, the autonomous delivery system provides improved efficiency and lower total costs for virtually any manufacturing environment. Best-in-class partner solutions powered by Panasonic's software to create a complete material management solution will also be on display during the show.

With financial backing from their joint U.S. parent company Teradyne, Mobile Industrial Robots and Universal Robots have acquired a 50,000-sq.-m building site in Odense, where $36 million will be invested in the construction of a major cobot hub in the "cobot capital" of the world. Collaborative robots – or cobots – are now the fastest growing segment of industrial automation. Cobots are a type of user-friendly robots that can work closely with humans without the need for safety guarding, enhancing both work environment and productivity.

Many manufacturers are still using hand tools like calipers, micrometers or height gages for parts measurement, causing problems with consistency and measurement for complex geometries. 3D scanning provides a more comprehensive inspection report for in-process and final verification for a wide variety of industries. To automate this process, 3D Infotech has developed the UMA Smart Station, a standardized system integrated with Universal Robots collaborative robots.

Universal Robots' OEM partner Columbia/Okura's new miniPAL is a mobile palletizer product that can be powered by the UR10e cobot arm. The flexible miniPAL with a footprint of 11'x13' can palletize at two pallet locations for optimized operation.

Fastems has launched three new products to enable educational institutions and manufacturing enterprises to benefit from its advanced digital manufacturing (DM) solutions for factory automation. In addition to functioning as a classroom teaching and learning tool, DM enables companies to do training and testing before ramp-up and simulation during production, for example.

Introduced as part of SCHUNK's Plug and Work portfolio, the new EGH Co-act gripper is an effective way to easily implement automation with a cobot. Easy to install and control and fully programmable to ensure flexible workpiece handling, the EGH is particularly suited to the handling, assembly and electronics industries.

PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P., a provider of motion control and precision automation systems, announces Dave Rego as the new president of PI's Auburn, Massachusetts-based North American operations.