Industrial Automation and Motion Control Blog | The Knotts Company

This post is brought to you by OptoForce. 

BRINGING AUTOMATION CLOSER

Automation is a hot topic nowadays and innovation is the driver of progress in industrial automation. The OptoForce company, based in Europe works to bring force control to the masses in industrial automation, by producing multi-axial force/torque sensors with a revolutionary, optical technology. OptoForce equips industrial robots with a sense of touch so that more tasks can be automated in a time saving way. A well-equipped, automated production line is crucial to shift to Industry 4.0. OptoForce can help in this process, with only keeping the following 4 steps in mind.

Topics: automation, Robots, Sensors, cobots, OptoForce

This post is brought to you by Amanda Lee at Robotiq.

Finding people who possess both the skills and the interest needed to work in manufacturing is a major challenge.  The good news is that many people who have either the skills or the interest can move into the sweet spot—they just need a nudge in the right direction. Here's how to achieve this in your manufacturing shop.

Topics: manufacturing, Robots, collaborative robots, cobots, Robotiq

This post is brought to you by Unitronics.

Summary: Procesteh LTD is a Croatian company offering engineering solutions for the process industry; they strive to provide complete solutions for both hardware and software.  For one project, they were building the control platform for a soda pasteurization system at a beverage plant.  They selected the Unitronics UniStream 15-inch modular PLC+HMI.  This PLC offered powerful communications, a large, easy to use display and a variety of I/O options, as well as a innovative, single-environment software enabling reduced programming time.

Topics: PLC, Unitronics, PLC+HMI, UniStream, pasteurization

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

The LIAA collaborative workcell by Asyril’s partner Teknologisk Institut (Denmark) demonstrates a collaborative and reconfigurable assembly process, where the Asycube 240 presents to the robot 4 different small elements to pick, in order to assemble radial-axial bearings produced by the Slovakian company Spinea.

Topics: Asycube, Universal Robots, integration

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