Industrial Automation and Motion Control Blog | The Knotts Company

This post is brought to you by Bimba.

Machine jams are a costly problem in the manufacturing world, costing $50,000 and more in lost production, labor, and materials per instance. Diagnosing the source of the problem quickly can save manufacturers from significant losses and improve overall production speed and uptime.

Topics: engineered solutions, bimba, Bimba IntelliSense®, pneumatic actuators

This product is brought to you by Asyril.

The first production series of our newest, largest member of the Asycube robotic parts feeder product family, the Asycube 530, is ready for shipment starting in August. The Asycube 530 is based on Asyril’s 3-axis vibration technology and capable of feeding and separating parts up to 150 mm part size. Key customer benefits are:

Topics: Asyril, Asycube, Asycube 530, robotic parts feeder

This post is brought to you by Dorner.

Dorner recently worked with a customer who needed to convey small plastic bottles. The solution required a number of different transfers from conveyors and other machinery.

Topics: dorner, Dorner Conveyors,, smartflex conveyors, 2200 Series, flexmove technology

The Knotts Company is pleased to announce their new partnership with Trio Motion Technology. Effective July 2017, The Knotts Company will be a distributor for all of their products.

Topics: automation, The Knotts Company, The Knotts Co, machine control, Trio Manufacturing Technology, motion control technology

This post is brought to you by Universal Robots.

Recently, I had someone ask why Universal Robots and Rethink Robotics have made such an impact on the automation market. For those that have direct experience with the challenges of implementing industrial automation, the response would most certainly be the prospect of being able to use a robot without any external safety measures such as hard guarding or light curtains. While this is certainly a game change there is another more tangible aspect that these companies have brought to the market. Ease of use.

Topics: Universal Robots, cobots, programming

This post is brought to you by Alex Owen-Hill at Robotiq.

What's the future for collaborative robotics? We look at eight trends which will shape the next decade of robotics research.

The US Robotics Roadmap — written by universities in the USA — is a report which plots the present and future of robotics. It discusses the breadth of the industry, from health-care to manufacturing. A large part of it looks at future research trends.

Topics: robotics, Robots, collaborative robots, collaborative robot, cobots, Robotiq

This post is brought to you by Bimba.

Challenge:

A manufacturer of post-press finishing equipment needed help increasing workflow efficiency for an application used in their commercial printers. The OEM was using a Bimba Extruded Flat Cylinder with external guiding to clamp printed stock for trimming and binding in a rotary machine. The manufacturer added a modified tooling plate to the cylinder and attempted to integrate it with a mechanical switch and valve, in hopes to improve efficiency.

Topics: bimba, bimba solutions, gripper, integrated valve

This post is brought to you by Mariane Davids at Robotiq.

When you announce that your manufacturing plant will be switching to collaborative robotics, there’s bound to be some discord amongst your team. After all, they’ll be wondering how it affects their jobs, if they’ll be pushed out by robotics, or a myriad of other concerns.

Topics: collaborative robots, collaborative robot, cobots, grippers, Robotiq

This post is brought to you by Applied Motion Products.

As part of our commitment to quality and durability in our products, we often use life testing as a means of determining how our products will survive when subjected to extended periods of stress or adverse conditions. In the case of motors intended for use in the splash zone, we wanted to do more than just subject them to the 15 minutes or so of high pressure spray required to achieve the IP65 rating. We wanted to see how our motors would fair when subjected to an extended period of water being splashed on them.

Topics: Applied Motion Products, IP65, Rain Test

The Knotts Company is proud to announce our their new partnership with Robotiq, effective June 2017.  Robotiq is a manufacturer of 2-Finger Adaptive Grippers, 3-Finger Grippers, Wrist Camera Vision Systems as well as Force Torque Sensors. We are thrilled to be adding Robotiq to the diverse line of products that we carry. We look forward to working with them as well as showing our customers how their products can help their business thrive. 

Topics: Robots, cobots, grippers, The Knotts Company, The Knotts Co, Robotiq, Products