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Subsea valve actuator ‘reduces energy consumption by up to 75 per cent’, says Rexroth

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Launched less than a year ago, Bosch Rexroth’s innovative Subsea Valve Actuator (SVA) – an entirely new concept for underwater actuators which offers SIL3 safety levels and up to 75 per cent lower energy consumption – has been granted a Mechanical Engineering Design Award.

The SVA was developed to help address some of the challenges and shortcomings associated with either purely electromechanical or electrohydraulic actuator technology used on the sea floor for oil and gas exploration and production systems.

Until now, underwater actuators required large, central hydraulic power units above water. Designed to supply the actuators with fluid, the fluid-lines themselves can be miles long. [Read more…] about Subsea valve actuator ‘reduces energy consumption by up to 75 per cent’, says Rexroth

Auto industry leaders publish new automated driving safety framework

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Intel, in collaboration with 10 industry leaders in automotive and autonomous driving technology, have published ‘Safety First for Automated Driving‘, a framework for the design, development, verification and validation of safe automated passenger vehicles (AVs).

The paper builds on Intel’s model for safer AV decision-making known as Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS).

Developing AVs that are verifiably safe by design is critical to enabling higher levels of autonomy on public roads, says Intel.

[Read more…] about Auto industry leaders publish new automated driving safety framework

Renault opens new design center in Shanghai

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Global automotive brand Renault has opened a new design center in the Chinese city of Shanghai.

The new design center in Shanghai will support Groupe Renault’s expansion strategy in China, which has been the world’s number-one car market since 2009.

China was Groupe Renault’s fourth-largest market in 2018, and the country is one of the key pillars of the automaker’s “Drive the Future” strategic plan. [Read more…] about Renault opens new design center in Shanghai

HP opens 3D printing and digital manufacturing centre of excellence in Spain

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HP has opened a new 3D printing and digital manufacturing centre of excellence in Barcelona, Spain – one of the world’s largest and most advanced research and development facilities for those technologies.

The new centre brings together hundreds of the world’s leading additive manufacturing experts in more than 150,000 square feet of space.

The 3+ acre facility at HP’s Barcelona campus is dedicated to the development of HP’s industrial 3D printing portfolio and provides a large-scale factory environment to collaborate with customers and partners on digital manufacturing technologies.

[Read more…] about HP opens 3D printing and digital manufacturing centre of excellence in Spain

Event to highlight the shift toward connected autonomous vehicles

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Drive World Conference & Expo, a showcase bringing together the brightest minds across the automotive electronics and intelligence industries, has released its 2019 conference content.

Spanning four distinct tracks, the conference features an ideal forum to share knowledge related to system connectivity, sensing technologies, infotainment, safety, security, smart mobility, and more.

Drive World, partnered with the Embedded Systems Conference, an event with a 30-year legacy of influencing electronics design and innovation, will take place August 27-29 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. [Read more…] about Event to highlight the shift toward connected autonomous vehicles

Markforged 3D printers featured in BattleBots World Championship

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Markforged, a provider of metal and carbon fiber 3D printers, says that four of its 3D printers were featured on BattleBots, a television series which premiered on June 7th on the Discovery Channel and June 12th on the Science Channel.

As the only 3D printer company hosted by BattleBots during filming, Markforged produced more than 160 parts for 29 teams onsite – all within the two weeks of filming.

The printers allowed the teams to rapidly repair damaged robots, improve their performance during battles, and optimize their design against competitors in real time. [Read more…] about Markforged 3D printers featured in BattleBots World Championship

Six innovative companies nominated for grand prize at microtechnology trade show

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Six innovative companies have been nominated for the grand prize at the microtechnology trade show EPHJ, the leading showcase for watchmaking, jewellery, and micro- and medical technologies sectors.

The jury of experts of the 2019 EPHJ-EPMT-SMT Trade Fair has selected six highly innovative projects for the Exhibitors’ Grand Prix to be voted on by the exhibitors to select and announce the winner at the show, which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 18-21 June.

Levitation of machines, the green properties of supercritical CO2, machine learning algorithms, new hope for the 16 million people suffering from retinal vein occlusion, a machine that is mightier than a spark and a new fine-layer treatment process are just a few of the spectacular innovations proposed by the six nominees for the 2019 Exhibitors’ Grand Prix selected by the Jury for the EPHJ-EPMT-SMT Trade Show. [Read more…] about Six innovative companies nominated for grand prize at microtechnology trade show

Epson Robots wins Vision Systems Design 2019 Innovators award

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Epson Robots was presented with a Silver-Honoree award in the Robotics category at the Fifth Annual Vision Systems Design Innovators Awards presentation, held recently in Chicago, Illinois.

The Epson Force Guide was recognized by a panel of esteemed experts from system integrator and end-user companies. The company was recognized the previous year for their Synthis T3 All-in-One SCARA robot.

Gregg Brunnick, director of product management for Epson Robots, says: “Vision Systems Design’s recognition of our new Force Guide underscores our commitment to meeting our customers’ needs for a revolutionary force control system that opens up possibilities for robot automation in areas that were not possible before. [Read more…] about Epson Robots wins Vision Systems Design 2019 Innovators award

Kuka wins five prestigious design awards

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Kuka has won some notable awards at iF, one of the world’s most prestigious design awards events. 

The company also won at the German Design Awards.

Kuka celebrated the success by announcing its line-up of products is “convincing from start to finish”.

The Kuka LBR iisy, which is a small industrial collaborative robotic arm, and the Kuka KMP 1500, an autonomous mobile robot, both received the renowned iF Design Award 2019. [Read more…] about Kuka wins five prestigious design awards

Parker Hannifin introduces new servo drive range

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Parker Hannifin, a leader in motion and control technologies, has introduced its PSD series of servo drives designed for use in central control applications.

All components utilise an Ethernet-based fieldbus system for communications with the controller via popular fieldbuses, currently in use in industry, such as EtherCAT, Ethernet IP and PROFINET.

Due to its flexibility, the new system can be used in a wide range of applications including highly dynamic packing and production machinery.

[Read more…] about Parker Hannifin introduces new servo drive range