Automation & Controls

Scappoose, Oregon – The Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center Research and Development (OMIC R&D) is excited to welcome ZOLLER as its newest member.

Birmingham, AL – Motion Industries, Inc., a distributor of maintenance, repair, and operation replacement parts and a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company, announced the promotion of Randall (Randy) P. Breaux to President on December 12, 2018.

SUDBURY, MA. U.S.A. – Methods Machine Tools, Inc. (www.methodsmachine.com), a North American supplier of precision machine tools and automation, has announced that Mr. Jon Dobosenski has been appointed as General Manager of Methods' new Memphis Technology Center.

Manufacturers struggling to get CNC machines to communicate directly with their collaborative robot now have a solution: VersaBuilt's CNC Communication URCap is a simple yet powerful interface for machine tending applications with Universal Robots. The URCap allows a UR cobot to easily execute any machining program stored on the CNC directly through the cobot's own teach pendant.n

The Kuebler Group offers contact and contactless slip rings for reliable Ethernet transmission—achieving higher data rates and greater cycle synchronicity in demanding industrial environments.

The RG2-FT from OnRobot is a new gripper available to manufacturers around the world. An update to OnRobot's first edition, the RG2-FT now has built-in force/torque sensing, supporting workpiece detection and centering.

OnRobot kicked off the new year by shipping pre-orders of its new Gecko Gripper, that uses millions of micro-scaled fibrillar stalks that adhere to a surface using powerful van der Waals forces—the same way that geckos climb. The Gecko Gripper lets robots pick up flat, smooth objects with significant energy savings over existing grippers such as vacuum grippers, which require compressed air that is costly, power-intensive, and bulky.

The bridge-like design of a gantry provides the framework for controlled precise overhead motion that is often sought after for 3D printing, assembly, pick-and-place, alignment, inspection and industrial automation applications. PI introduces the A-341 HGS hybrid gantry – designed to combine maximum throughput with smooth and highly accurate motion.

Breathe new life into your trusted machines that are mechanically sound but electrically obsolete. Get a Drake CS:R (Control System Renewal) and eliminate the headache of outdated controls and motors that are no longer supported. Drake's CS:R package is an economical way to return machines that are still good mechanically, but have failure-prone controls, to higher productivity.

Henkel has introduced a new process control system that addresses key challenges in metal pretreatment as customers are increasingly seeking to implement data-driven Industry 4.0 solutions. In combination with the company's New Generation Conversion coatings (NGC) for multiple-metal substrates, the Bonderite E-CO digital multiple-channel (DMC) controller enables maximum corrosion performance and sustainability at minimized overall process costs.

igus has developed a new robot dresspack configurator, a free online tool that can be used to find the ideal cable management system for virtually every robot available on the market.

Omron Automation Americas announced the release of an advanced yet intuitive solution for automating repetitive tasks in manufacturing. With built-in vision and a user-friendly, plug-and-play programming interface, the new TM series collaborative robot works seamlessly with humans to enhance productivity and ensure safety.