Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

metal

New soft robot morphs from a ground to air vehicle using liquid metal

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Imagine a small autonomous vehicle that could drive over land, stop, and flatten itself into a quadcopter. The rotors start spinning, and the vehicle flies away.

Looking at it more closely, what do you think you would see? What mechanisms have caused it to morph from a land vehicle into a flying quadcopter? You might imagine gears and belts, perhaps a series of tiny servo motors that pulled all its pieces into place.

If this mechanism was designed by a team at Virginia Tech led by Michael Bartlett, assistant professor in mechanical engineering, you would see a new approach for shape changing at the material level. [Read more…] about New soft robot morphs from a ground to air vehicle using liquid metal

Metal Nameplates: What Are Their Uses?

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Metal nameplates are widely used in home appliances, machinery, electronic products, and other fields. They can also be used as metal labels on machines to ensure that equipment is used correctly. In addition, information for safety guidelines, asset tracking, or manufacturing data can be embedded in them.

The metals that are used often include iron, stainless steel, aluminum, zinc alloy, tin, copper, and more. The plates can be created through methods such as etching, printing, stamping, electroplating, drop plastic, wire drawing, and other processes.

You can have customized nameplates made and designed according to your specifications. Metal Marker Manufacturing provides more information about metal nameplates and how you can have yours made with custom specifications. [Read more…] about Metal Nameplates: What Are Their Uses?

Robotic grippers 3D-printed for packaging machines

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Plastic grippers made from 3D printing and tribofilaments from Igus are 85 percent and 70 percent cheaper than the majority of competitors in the packaging industry.

3D printing is one of the most important trends in the industry today. It allows single batches to become a reality, allowing for personalized serial production of watches, furniture, and shoes. Additive manufacturing can also be a benefit to the packaging industry.

Metal grippers can be expensive and take a long time to produce.A certain company, after trying to 3D-print grippers using standard plastics like ABS and PLA with poor results, turned to igus. [Read more…] about Robotic grippers 3D-printed for packaging machines

Door locking systems manufacturer turns to Delta for machine vision robotic solution

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Metal LS, a Bulgarian manufacturer of door locking systems, door and window handles and building hardware, started planning the new automated assembly of door locks in 2019.

The robotic systems that the company already used for other applications were too large for the planned production site, so the new solutions needed to be as compact and precise as possible, in addition to being state of the art.

Door and security locks are precision parts with standard dimensions and components stipulated in DIN standards. Therefore, quality and precision were especially important deciding factors for Metal LS. [Read more…] about Door locking systems manufacturer turns to Delta for machine vision robotic solution

Design brief: 3D printed casting of 3-foot long robot arm

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By Alkaios Bournias Varotsis, product marketing manager, nTopology

3D printed sand casting molds and cores are changing the way high-performance, large metal parts are manufactured today.

Additive manufacturing is enabling modern foundries to produce complex metal parts in rapid lead times.

This article explains the benefits of coupling advanced design tools with 3D printed sand molds using, as an example, the redesign and manufacture of a 3-foot long robotic arm. [Read more…] about Design brief: 3D printed casting of 3-foot long robot arm

Tau invents wire that doubles the power of electric motors and raises €10.25 million

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A startup company called Tau, which specializes in materials science and automotive electrification, says it has delivered a prototype wire that enables electric motors to double their power output without changing their size. 

The technology could mean that electric vehicles and machines of all kinds can keep going for longer on a single charge, and go faster.

Coinciding with the milestone of delivering prototype winding wire to the automotive industry, Tau also concluded its Series A financing round with additional funding from Finindus, a Belgium-based investment company financed by ArcelorMittal and the Flemish Region, and a top-up by German specialty chemicals company Altana. The total raised is said to be €10.25 million. [Read more…] about Tau invents wire that doubles the power of electric motors and raises €10.25 million

What is Steel Fabrication: Uses, Purpose, and Benefits

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Steel fabrication is a process that helps turn the raw metal into an item or product that can be used in assembly lines, homes, construction, and other places. This process requires skilled technicians who can ensure minimum to no errors to eliminate or reduce wastage.

Steel fabrication involves various techniques. Some basic ones are machining, welding, cutting, drilling, coating, and bending to turn the material into predefined customer shapes and sizes.

In machining, technicians use drills, lathes, and mills to remove unwanted materials and model the metal into the required shape and size. In trimming, processes like flame, water jet, or plasma cutting are used to slice steel into dimensions that are easy to work with. [Read more…] about What is Steel Fabrication: Uses, Purpose, and Benefits

Piab adds new size to its ‘bellows’ end-effector range

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Piab has further broadened its already extensive range of what are called “end-effectors” – basically the “hands” for robotic arms. 

Piab has extended its line of bellows flat friction suction cups to include a cup measuring 80 mm in diameter.

With this 80 mm cup, the company says it will fill the gap in its “highly competitive” range of DuraFlex friction cups. The new size BFFT80P-2 is available with 10 standard friction suction cup fittings. [Read more…] about Piab adds new size to its ‘bellows’ end-effector range

Robotic 3D metal printing startup MX3D raises €2.25 million in new funding

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Innovative robotic 3D metal printing company MX3D has raised €2.25 million to scale up and launch its M1 Metal Additive Manufacturing System.

DOEN Participaties, PDENH and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency took part in the investment round in MX3D, which is based in Holland and is famous for building a 3D printed bridge across a canal.

The funds will be used to launch the M1, a complete robotic metal AM system, including a welding robot, software and control system to 3D print metal parts in-house. [Read more…] about Robotic 3D metal printing startup MX3D raises €2.25 million in new funding

Celanese suggests replacing metal parts in robots with polymers

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Choosing materials is one of the most important decisions when designing and building a machine such as a robot, particularly one that moves around, like an autonomous warehouse robot or an automated guided vehicle. 

Most of the machines this website features in its articles and advertising use metals for the vast majority of their components. Even the outer casing on most industrial robots tends to be a metal such as iron or steel.

However, according to an expert at Celanese, one of the largest materials companies in the world, the vast majority of components and parts that are currently made out of metal can actually be replaced with polymers or thermoplastics. [Read more…] about Celanese suggests replacing metal parts in robots with polymers