CNC, Motion Control

Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media
Sensors, Vision November 17, 2019

Machine vision and AI enhance 3-D printing

Adding machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to 3-D printing allows industrial printers to produce products that have never been printed before.

By AIA
Using the researchers' path planning algorithm, complex paths that typically take 15 to 30 minutes to specify manually can be generated in just a few seconds, bringing the tool from from source to destination to complete manufacturing tasks without human help. Courtesy: Pradeep Rajendran, USC Viterbi
Robotics November 16, 2019

Algorithm developed to help automate robots for more complex workspaces

Researchers at the USC Viterbi Center for Advanced Manufacturing have identified an algorithm designed to provide robots short, collision-free solutions in complex manufacturing spaces.

By Avni Shah
Figure 1: Packaging lines benefit from the increased controllability of electromechanical actuators as they often eliminate the need for changeover when switching from one product to another. Courtesy: Thomson Industries Inc.
Sensors, Actuators November 12, 2019

Eight selection criteria for actuation components

Electromechanical systems offer advantages over hydraulic and pneumatic actuators

By Chad Carlberg and Chris Diak
For last-mile delivery, robots of the future may use a new MIT algorithm to find the front door, using clues in their environment. Courtesy: MIT News
Robotics November 9, 2019

Technique helps robots find the front door

MIT engineers, along with the Ford Motor Company, have developed a navigation method for robots that enables a robot to use clues in its environment to plan out a route to its destination, which can be described in general semantic terms rather than coordinates on a map.

By Jennifer Chu
Modular robotic blocks can self-assemble into various structures. Courtesy: Jason Dorfman, MIT CSAIL
Robotics October 31, 2019

Self-transforming robot blocks can move and identify each other

A team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed self-assembling robotic cubes that can climb over and around one another, leap through the air, roll across the ground, and identify each other.

By Rachel Gordon
Daniel Westberg, CEO of Ewellix. Courtesy: Ewellix
CNC Motion Control October 28, 2019

Mobile machinery manufacturer changes name

SKF Motion Technologies, formerly part of the SKF Group, is now known as Ewellix: Makers in Motion, effective immediately.

By Ewellix
A key to compiling the novel Omnipush dataset was building modular objects (pictured) that enabled the robotic system to capture a vast diversity of pushing behavior. The central pieces contain markers on their centers and points so a motion-detection system can detect their position within a millimeter. Courtesy: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Robotics October 23, 2019

Robots learn the fundamentals of object manipulation and pushing

Researchers at MIT have developed a system where robots “learn” from a dataset called Omnipush that captures how pushed objects move to improve their physical interactions with new objects.

By Rob Matheson
Courtesy: CFE Media
Sensors, Vision October 23, 2019

Logistics industry looking to improve with machine vision

Logistics operations must be able to process massive databases of SKUs and information and enhancements in machine vision can help improve efficiency.

By Dan McCarthy
These images show the performance of the 1,550-nanometer optical element. The images are light-intensity profiles of the optical field as it appears approximately 185 micrometers above the surface of the optical element. To the left is a simulated light-intensity profile that predicts how the optical element should perform. Note the focal point of light near the center of the image. To the right, an actual light-intensity profile of the optical element, showing that the device does produce a focal point of light at the predicted location. The researchers designed the element to focus light at eight such points at different distances above the element’s surface. Scale bar is 10 micrometers. Courtesy: Alan Zhan, University of Washington
Discrete Manufacturing October 20, 2019

3-D printed metasurface design can control optical fields

A team led by scientists at the University of Washington has designed and tested a 3D-printed metamaterial that can manipulate light with nanoscale precision, which could have a major effect on autonomous transportation as well as optical elements for displays and sensors in VR or AR headsets.

By James Urton
Sequence of photos shows an assembler robot at work, carrying one structural unit over the top and down the other side of a structure under construction. Courtesy: Benjamin Jenett, MIT
Robotics October 16, 2019

Assembler robots make large structures from little pieces

MIT researchers are working on developing systems of tiny robots that may someday build high-performance structures, from airplanes to space settlements.

By David L. Chandler