Industrial Automation and Motion Control Blog | The Knotts Company

We're excited to share our new partnership with the robotics software company Micropsi Industries. Its MIRAI technology, a vision-based robot control system that, through artificial intelligence, enables robots to learn, to perform a wide range of complex tasks, and to handle variance in workspaces.

MIRAI is an AI-driven, fully productized system that anyone can use, not least workers at small- and medium-sized enterprises. Robots with MIRAI are trained through human demonstration in only days. No knowledge of programming or AI is necessary. To train a robot, a human repeatedly performs demonstrations of a task by manually guiding the robot by the robot's wrist. During the demonstrations, the MIRAI-powered robot takes in information through sensors, using the gathered data to learn how to do the task on its own. Robots with MIRAI can be retrained for different tasks.

Topics: Machine Vision, Micropsi, MIRAI

We have expanded our product line by partnering with Inspekto to offer the world’s first ever autonomous machine vision system for quality assurance. Inspekto, a German industrial company with Israeli DNA, created the Autonomous Machine Vision system to offer an unprecedented ease and speed of set-up, encouraging the installation of quality assurance stations at every step of the production line. 

Topics: vision, industrial vision, quality assurance, Inspekto

We have expanded our product line by becoming a distributor for Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. Yamaha has been developing robotics for more than 30 years. Since first introducing robotics to their motorcycle production line, Yamaha has been supporting a range of production facilities with reliable, high quality industrial robots.

Topics: robotics, electric actuator, robot, Yamaha, robotics solutions

A note from our President, Rick Howe.

Topics: robotics, automation, The Knotts Company, The Knotts Co, NY, NJ

Wouldn’t you love to look into the future and anticipate machine failure and costly downtime?

Instead of shutting down every summer for a week or two for complete maintenance overhauls just to give your machines a better chance of uptime the rest of the year, wouldn’t it be better, easier and smarter to address the issues right before they might happen individually?

Throw out old Preventive Maintenance and bring in Predictive Maintenance.

Topics: bimba, Intellisense, Predictive Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance

Topics: automation control, motion control, quick response solution

There are a few things to consider when specifying the correct air cylinder for the right job so you maximize performance and longevity, while giving you lower operating costs for the duration of your application.

Here are a few points to consider in the selection of air cylinders:

1. Weight- What is the weight of the load that you need to move? Select a force factor that is 25% greater than the load to help compensate for friction.
2. Speed- How fast will you be moving the load? When you have higher speeds you will need to increase your force factor to move the load quicker. Depending on speed and weight the force factor could be as much as twice or greater than the load itself.
3. Air Pressure- This is critical for the proper performance and getting the most life out of an air cylinder. Too low of a pressure and your load won’t be moved efficiently or speed requirements not met. Too high of a pressure creates stress on the cylinder and could possibly damage the cylinder as well as the load.
4. Bore Size- Select the correct bore size to determine your force factor at your selected pressure. There are charts available to assist in this selection from the manufacturers or you can consult with your Automation Specialist.
5. Mounts- How a cylinder gets mounted affects the performance and life expectancy. By selecting the correct cylinder mount you will optimize cylinder strength, efficiency and alignment. Selecting the correct Pivot or Rigid mounting style will help you avoid side load problems which are the major cause of cylinder failure.

Interested in a Cylinder?

Topics: cost savings, air cylinder, bimba

Topics: industrial automation nj/ny

Topics: cost effective, industrial automation nj/ny, resource, core competencies

Using pneumatic motion control is not only a safer and cheaper way of operating equipment, but it is also more reliable, much simpler to use, and it can even be used in the case of a power failure.

Topics: manufacturing, technology, pneumatic motion control, air cylinder