DESIGN WORLD APRIL 2023

NEW! More Murrplastik Cable Entry System Options...

Murrplastik cable entry systems allow installation of non-terminated or pre-made/terminated cables through an enclosure or other bulkhead surface.

Our new additions include:

• The KDP/R series: A round one-piece frame available in two different frame sizes that can hold up to 46 non-terminated cables in a single frame.

• FDA compliant cable entry systems ideal for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and any industry requiring sanitary components.

–KDL/H-VA-FDA series: Stainless-steel split frames, available in three sizes that can hold up to 12 pre-made or terminated cables.

–KDP series FDA Cablequick® system: A one-piece stainless-steel frame that can hold up to 56 non-terminated cables.

KDP Series

KDP/R Series KDP/R Series

KDL/H-VA-FDA Series

Experience the future of fan technology with AxiForce.

The AxiForce tubeaxial fan series is ideal for keeping consistent, optimized temperature in control units for automation and other highly-modern technologies. Due to its variable installation, high cooling capacity in the smallest of spaces, and interactive integration into the device logic, it has already proven to be indispensable in modern automation.

Contact s ales@us.ebmpapst.com for more info.

The in-person meeting returns om the brink

The COVID-19 pandemic changed so much around our jobs, from how we work to where we work. It brought Zoom into the daily vernacular of the o ce, and for many of us, that o ce now bears a striking resemblance to our living room or den, or study.

One thing that COVID-19 didn’t seem to change was the importance of meeting in person. Rather, the pandemic, in general, brought about an awful lot of hand-wringing about the future of in-person events, from conferences to trade shows to industry award celebrations. Companies like ours, and industry associations, pivoted and were often successful at digital events, if somewhat less so with hybrid events (which many people quickly decided they didn’t care for).

I’m glad to see, after the last few months of being back on the road, that these predictions of industry events’ collective demise have been proven wrong. In late November, we held a fantastic 300+ person gala celebration for the 2022 R&D 100 Awards, something I couldn’t have imagined a year prior. Our company got together in January for the first corporate meetings since the lockdown, and it was incredible to see all those faces without the aid of a computer monitor. I attended a large industry conference shortly thereafter, and it felt like nothing had changed from 2019, other than the plentiful bottles of hand sanitizer placed around the ballroom.

What’s more, I just returned home from back-to-back trade shows — the in-person events seemingly in most peril. They were on opposite coasts and in vastly di erent industries (construction and laboratory equipment), and yet both were humming with excitement, the aisle positively jammed with people.

COVID-19 may have taught us some new ways to think about things in the workplace, but it also seems to have reminded everyone how important that face-to-face human connection is to us. As Mary Gannon, the Editor-in-Chief of our sister publication Fluid Power World, remarked to me, she can’t remember ever getting so many hugs at a trade show in her life. People genuinely missed each other, and missed having that type of connection that no phone call or video chat can replace. DW

Paul J. Heney - VP, Editorial Director pheney@wtwhmedia.com

Steel, Stainless Steel, and Aluminum Shafting cut to length and optimized for use with LEE Linear bearings.

LEE Linear has the ability to manufacture custom shafting to required standards in a short amount of time, eliminating downtime and increasing profits for our customers.

Special machining capabilities include threading, diameter reduction, flats, keyways, plating, and more.

Roller Pillow Blocks are well suited for heavy loads and long travels.

Large cam follower design delivers superior contamination resistance and excels in applications requiring joined shafts or rail assemblies.

Simplified installation and alignment makes for lower system costs.

Chips (semiconductor) chips, I dream of you

“Chips chips da ti du di du … I dream of you …” skats Italian jazz musician Paolo Conte in his 1981 masterpiece Via con me. This is the manufacturing community’s refrain as international borders threaten to harden into chokepoints for semiconductorrelated commerce.

In fact, the chip industry is widely considered the hardest hit by the supply-chain issues of the COVID-19 pandemic and its container ships waiting weeks for cargo unloading; purchase-quantity limits; and backordered parts and subcomponents. But every modern vehicle, industrial component, smart device, consumer gadget, and appliance is peppered over with semiconductors imparting the processing power of electronic products most valued today.

The issue laid bare by COVID is how the cosmopolitan yet nondiversified nature of the semiconductor industry currently renders it vulnerable to disparate global issues. In many cases, a small handful of companies execute chip processing in Europe; chip-processing machine building in California and Japan; chip testing in Southeast Asia; and assembly into the final product (where applicable) in China.

Of most concern now is how more than half of all semiconductors and more than 90% of all advanced semiconductors are made in Taiwan. Fabrication plants there supply more than half of all the world’s semiconductors and nearly all advanced semiconductor chips having

extremely miniaturized features. However, the looming possibility of China’s claim of Taiwan as a province could threaten this industry. Heightening tensions are Trump-era sanctions restricting Chinese telecomm-unications and electronics giant Huawei from employing U.S. software or technology and Biden-era sanctions as well as the 2022 Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act. The latter designates $280B for coordinated spending over the next decade on U.S. including semiconductor R&D and commercialization; manufacturing and workforce development; and chip production tax credits. Many times over the years, I’ve heard industry-savvy folks at tradeshows and various other industry events declare the U.S. semiconductor industry e ectively dead and beyond revival. Perhaps (as Miracle Max from Princess Bride might say) it’s only mostly dead.

For the 2023 Design World Trends issue (readable via the QR code above) many industry experts we surveyed indicated cautious optimism about this CHIPS program … although there’s almost universal concern about the many years it will take to develop and expand the industry. Most are delightfully bullish.

The U.S. CHIPS act is similar to the CHIPS Act o cially adopted by the European Council of the European Union in December 2022. Beyond the supply-chain arrangements these acts will prompt, it will be fascinating to see what new chip technologies they yield. DW

Engineering

Lisa Eitel • Senior Editor

Digital-transformation sustainability: Waste minimization and energy savings

Nearly two thirds of all energy created globally for commercial, transportation, industrial, and residential use is lost to ine ciency and waste. For operations aiming to achieve carbon-neutral status (or just higher profitability through energy conservation) preventing the loss of energy is at once immediately possible and commendable. After all, Energy Information Administration analysis indicates that industrial operations consume a quarter of the nearly 100 quadrillion BTUs produced in the U.S. every year (not counting the energy expenditures associated with logistics and outer transportation activity) but half of that is wasted.

Though rendered impossible by current national and global politics, it’s still technically feasible for humanity to restrict coming decades’ climate change to within 1.5° C — the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change target for avoiding the absolute worst

| Suwin Puengsamrong

e ects of climate change — in part by minimizing energy waste. But it’s nearly certain climate change in coming decades will in fact exceed 1.5° C, so in the U.S. will vastly increase deadly heat events, droughts, wildfires, and farming catastrophes in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas. It will also bring coastal flooding and devastating storms to Texas, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, New York, Hawaii, and California as well as the death, destruction, and extinction of both terrestrial and marine species, habitats, and ecosystems (including 70% to 90% of the world coral reefs). NASA imaging confirms that in less than 20 years, Antarctica and Greenland ice has already melted the volume of Lake Michigan … and despite a half century of advancements in agricultural approaches, global farming productivity is 21% lower than it could’ve been sans climate change.

For manufacturers and automated facilities who acknowledge that climate inaction is costlier than action, a top goal is achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. These e orts prioritize the reduction of CO2 and to a lesser extent methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. If urgent warnings are to be heeded, manufacturers should cut their emissions by half within the next 10 years.

Of course, many industrial operations — including those involving heating and cooling processes, machining, and any physical transport of raw materials and workpieces — are inherently energy intense. That said, the application of digital-transformation (DX) systems such as energy analysis software, realtime energy tracking, and digital energy management can handily trim an industrial operation’s energy waste by 10% or more. These DX technologies measure and (in some cases) continually monitor energy flows

Shown here is a Sankey representing sources, uses, and wastes of energy in the U.S. Values are based on data from March 2022 via the Energy Information Administration. Distributed electricity here includes retail electricity sales and none self-generated. Electricity production e ciencies here is the total delivered electricity divided by the primary energy input. End-use e ciency is about 65% for residential, 65% for commercial, 21% for transportation, and 49% for industrial (with the latter reflecting DOE analysis of manufacturing). Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory • Department of Energy.

If urgent warnings are to be heeded, manufacturers should cut their emissions by half within the next 10 years.

Sustainable Engineering

DX initiatives can help operations identify where in a plant or operation the most dramatic e ciency gains can be had. For larger operations, such programs can save millions of dollars in energy per year.

through a facility to profile and target areas of potential improvement.

Key is the reduction of waste heat and emissions from electric utility power plants and transmission systems (purchased power) as well as the power distribution elements, motors, drives, engines, compressors, lights, mechanical components, and other elements under an operator’s control in the plant itself.

The EMIS solution

In many cases, DX software for the improvement of energy e ciency takes the form of energy management information systems or EMISs. EMIS software is complemented by sensors (wired and wireless), data systems, and employee as well as organization programs to review and apply EMIS data collected from energyperformance tracking. Comprehensive deployments can even aggregate the data across a whole plant (or multiple company locations) to optimize energy use. In contrast with legacy approaches (in which operations may have only reviewed energy consumption trends every month or year over year) today’s EMIS-based systems often use sensor-

generated data collected every day, hour, or minute (or in realtime) to detect or profile even slight issues rather quickly.

EMIS digital twins can also inform future designs without impacting immediate facility operations. These designs often include component and subsystem purchases such as the procurement of automation subassemblies right-sized for a given application; smart controls to optimize machine routines; regenerative drives; electric motors with NEMA-certified e ciencies; actuators in place of fluidpower technologies; LED lighting; and predictive-maintenance peripherals to identify irregular or degraded system performance before resulting ine ciencies linger or compound energy and production losses.

Edge devices key to reducing waste Sustainability-related programs leveraging edge computing are seeing increased adoption for two main reasons. First of all, edge computing supports green-engineering e orts through its processing of vast data streams to improve monitored operations’ sustainability profile.

Correlating process functions to energy use, raw material consumption, and emissions generation via sensors can yield information about specific operations that can be standardized on one data set. Filters on this locally processed data then remove all irrelevant or invalid data to output actionable information. Edge computing in such arrangements also helps industrial operations keep massive amounts of raw data (the production of which has only grown exponentially over recent decades) o remote servers that globally consume more than 200 trillion Watt-hours every year.

In addition, edge computing supports green-engineering e orts by minimizing scrap and defective output products. Because solid industrial waste is nearly twentyfold that generated by municipalities worldwide, all conservation e orts here are worthwhile. Sensor arrays used in this way prevent overproduction of a given ingredient or subcomponent while concurrently preventing the output of defective items destined for scrapping. Continuous machine monitoring quickly identifies value anomalies and malfunctions; these can then trigger warnings, a temporary halt to operation if possible, and [ideally predefined] troubleshooting and corrective measures. Upon completion of machine rebooting or repairs, operations are resumed — and all the collected, filtered, and standardized machine data of the downtime event can be used to yield deeper insights into a given machine’s profile and prevent similar issues in the future … or optimize upgraded or next-generation versions of the equipment. DW

| Armmy Picca

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EDITORIAL

VP, Editorial Director

Paul J. Heney pheney@wtwhmedia.com @wtwh_paulheney

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Design for Industry

New resin creates high-fidelity polychromatic dental appliances

Stratasys recently introduced TrueDent, the first monolithic, full-color 3D-printed permanent dentures solution. In one continuous print, labs can create permanent, natural-looking gums with accurate tooth structure, shade, and translucency.

“Until now, printed dentures and appliances had to be designed and manufactured in multiple parts and bonded together,” said Frank Acosta, owner of AA Dental Design. “The TrueDent solution, utilizing Stratasys’ systems and software, takes a lot of that stress out. It simplifies the process, lowers the costs, and allows for dentures and temporaries to be produced much faster, achieving incredible aesthetics. We can now expand our prosthetic service printing multi-colored personalized appliances at scale.”

TrueDent is an FDA-cleared (Class II) dental resin explicitly made to fabricate dental appliances, including removable dentures. The resin is patent-pending, currently available only in the U.S., and exclusively compatible

POWER TRANSMISSION

RETAINING DEVICES & maintenance & assembly tools

with the Stratasys J5 DentaJet 3D printer and GrabCAD Print software platform. Dental labs can scale denture manufacturing by simplifying workflow and reducing processing time while achieving a personalized, highly aesthetic dental appliance.

The solution is designed to eliminate barriers and address concerns for patients and laboratories, including:

• Potential chair-time reduction for o ce visits, measurements, fittings, and adjustments.

• High-fidelity matching of the scan, design, and fit.

• Scalable, repeatable digital solutions that provide consistent production of accurate, well-fitting dentures.

• Increased e ciency through streamlined workflows with less time between scan and delivery.

The global dentures market, which Stratasys estimates at $5.5 billion, has a shortage of skilled dental laboratory technicians and is challenged to meet the rising demand for dentures and appliances through conventional methods. According to iData research, in 2021, more than 4.2 million full dentures were created in the U.S., and 18 million full dentures were sold worldwide. Of that total, an estimated 5% were made through a 3D-printed solution.

“This new solution will be transformative for the dental industry, and we believe it will help our customers significantly reduce the time and cost of producing dentures and temporaries,” said Ronen Lebi, vice president of dental at Stratasys. “Stratasys continues to push the boundaries of digital dentistry, leveraging our portfolio of advanced 3D printing technologies, including hardware, resins, and software, to deliver disruptive solutions that make a di erence.” DW

Stratasys

www.stratasys.com

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

WHITTET-HIGGINS manufactures quality oriented, stocks abundantly and delivers quickly the best quality and largest array of adjustable, heavy thrust bearing, and torque load carrying retaining devices for bearing, power transmission and other industrial assemblies; and specialized tools for their careful assembly.

Visit our website–whittet-higgins.com–to peruse the many possibilities to improve your assemblies. Much technical detail delineated as well as 2D and 3D CAD models for engineering assistance. Call your local or a good distributor.

BEARLOK SHOELOK BEARLOK Shrink Disc

BEARHUG CLAMPNUT TANGENTLOK

NUTS & WASHERS

SLEEVE ASSEMBLIES

& WASHERS HARDENED TONGUE WASHERS SPLIT COLLAR RETHREADING DIES ADJUSTABLE SPANNER WRENCH BEARING ASSEMBLY SOCKET

and METRIC THREADS

Rotary index table improves portable arm metrology

LK Metrology’s new Freedom Index Table aims to increase component inspection speed when using portable, multi-axis measuring arms. The table’s portability can increase e ciency and, in some cases, e ective measuring volume by using smaller, less expensive arms to access all component areas.

Static tables require operators to relocate the arm to access the back of a part, which can lengthen the measuring cycle and introduce inaccuracies. However, the ergonomic rotary index table enables su cient access and prevents operator fatigue from repeatedly reaching around the component, which can weigh up to 220 lb (100 kg).

Requiring no cables, the portable, manually operated, metrology-grade index table is compatible with any portable measuring arm, including LK’s six- and seven-axis Freedom Arm models. Operators can quickly set up the 11.8 in. (300 mm) or optional 19.6 in. (500 mm) diameter table on a work surface and secure a component with the pre-drilled, threaded fixing holes or integral clamping magnets.

Initial calibration of the start position is also quickly performed by inputting the table’s location in InnovMetric’s PolyWorks Inspector software. Randomly placed, alphanumerically labeled, fiducial dimples are machined into the top of the table and around its periphery. When the measuring arm probes three or more reference dimples, the software recognizes the irregular pattern and automatically detects the orientation. Operators then select the software’s on-screen Freedom Index Table macro to update the coordinate system and continue the part inspection.

When operators need to access the far side of the part, the table rotates 180° (or any intermediate angle), and the arm probes three or more reference dimples to update the software with the new position and continues measuring. The software automatically aligns both sets of inspection data. The PolyWorks 3D dimensional analysis and quality control software also performs geometrical feature measurements, surface evaluation using advanced point cloud analysis, part-to-CAD comparison, and complete reporting. DW

Design for Industry

Compact electromagnets meet holding force and duty cycle requirements

Electromagnets are used in various medical testing, monitoring, and point-of-care devices. And like every industry, medical OEMs continuously seek smaller, more e cient components that spare cost and space.

Magnetic Sensor Systems (MSS) recently released the E-05-125 Series of Tubular Low-Profile Electromagnets for various applications. This compact series measures 1.25 in. in diameter and 0.50 in. in length and features 18 di erent windings based on the application duty cycle and holding force requirements. They can supply 12 to 40 lbs. of holding force, and duty cycles can range from 100% (continuously on) to 10%.

The new electromagnets are low-cost and immediately available o -the-shelf in sample quantities. Larger OEM quantities for just-in-time deliveries can be shipped within four weeks.

This series is ideal for use in medical equipment, relays, valves, games, o ce equipment, door controls (hold open, hold close), lifting gantries, material handling, sensors and detectors, magnetic locks and switches, magnetic separation, toys, games, security systems, fuel injectors, research equipment, and fail-safe brakes.

All MSS electromagnets use materials that quickly lose residual magnetism when the current is removed. For easy integration into new and existing applications, the E-05-125 Series have a centered 6-32 UNC-2B threaded hole in the backside.

For applications that need a more compact electromagnet or an electromagnet with greater holding force or duty cycle, customers can contact MSS for help. DW

Design for Industry

So very clean: new slewing ring bearing for food contact

igus announced a new hygienically designed slewing ring bearing that enables quick, residue-free cleaning during use. The new slewing ring bearing can remain permanently installed in an application with food contact, saving the user the e ort of developing a suitable cover.

Manufacturers of special machinery for clean areas in the food, medical, and pharmaceutical industries are familiar with the problem: the market has hardly any hygienically designed slewing ring bearings for rotating components in applications such as bottle-filling plants. Traditional components o er bacteria plenty of target areas and usually cannot be cleaned thoroughly enough. Hence, additional development work for a hygienic cover is typically necessary, involving more time and money.

“We want to o er a simpler solution, so we developed a hygienic version of our iglide PRT slewing ring bearing,” said Fabian Wieking, product manager of PRT slewing ring bearings at igus. “It is made of stainless steel and FDA-compliant plastics, and its design allows users to clean it without any residue left behind and without removing it from the machine. This eliminates the need for an additional cover.”

When designing the new slewing ring bearing, igus engineers followed the guidelines of the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group, an association of research institutes, public-health institutions, food processors, and food production equipment suppliers. The primary goal was to give bacteria as few target areas as possible. The new slewing ring bearings are designed with rounded components. There are no 90° corners, weld seams, or edges. All surfaces have a slope of at least three degrees so that water drains o completely. FDA-compliant seals are used wherever metal meets metal. This prevents dead spaces, for example, in screw connections.

“These special design features allow clean-in-place processes,” said Wieking. “No disassembly is necessary for cleaning. Users can simply rinse the bearing with cleaning agents, reliably removing all residue.”

igus manufactures new slewing ring bearings on request as special components.

“We see that the food and packaging industry is developing rapidly and that there is greater demand for special machinery,” said Wieking. “However, in most cases, manufacturers require special components. For that reason, we are o ering them the possibility to have the new hygienically designed slewing ring bearing manufactured according to their individual requirements.”

Users also benefit from the usual advantages of igus products: the stainless-steel rings move on sliding elements made of iglide, a high-performance plastic into which solid lubricants are integrated. They allow low-friction dry operation, protecting the environment. The slewing ring bearings are delivered ready to install, and the self-lubrication e ect keeps them working for years without maintenance. DW igus www.igus.com

Design for Industry

Hydraulic rotators let harvesters revolve eely

Forest machine manufacturer Ponsse is launching the new HH360 rotator, which lets the harvester head freely rotate 360° without limitations. The harvester head speeds up wood processing, makes the operator’s job easier, and reduces hose failures.

The product was developed in close cooperation with hydraulic motor and rotator manufacturer Black Bruin, and Ponsse has exclusive rights to the product for forest machine use.

“The HH360 is a combination of the well-known and durable radial piston technology of Black Bruin’s harvester rotators and Ponsse’s innovation,” said Tero Ylä-Mononen, Black Bruin’s R&D manager. “Thanks to the structure, the torquetransmitting components are wear-proof, and the rotator maintains a firm grip throughout the machine’s service life. The rotator is extremely accurate in use and responds precisely and consistently to the user’s actions.”

Due to the radial piston rotator’s high e ciency, just 20 lpm of oil flow su ces to operate. Operating costs are low, and the rotator is easy to service if needed. This means that service life can be extended far into the future.

The powerful and exceptionally energy-e cient HH360 rotator is available for multiple Ponsse harvester heads when mounted as a loose-head installation.

The most important factor in choosing a rotator product is the application’s load capacity requirements. Black Bruin’s harvester rotator design is made for heavy-duty use and is based on its radial piston motor, giving the same highly e cient power as the motors. Black Bruin harvester rotators are rotary housing, which means the rotator shaft (cylinder block) remains in place while the rotator is running.

The rotation of the motor is achieved by feeding pressurized hydraulic fluid through the rotator distribution head to the distribution valve. The distribution valve directs the flow through the cylinder block to the pistons, which are on a power stroke. The pressure pushes the pistons, and the cams roll outwards against the cam ring on the housing (distribution head). The waveform of the cam ring transforms the force into torque. When the pistons reach the end of the power stroke, the distribution valve closes the flow to the pistons and switches the pistons to a return stroke. The cam ring pushes the pistons back into the cylinder block, preparing them for the next outward power stroke.

Harvester rotators are used for cut-tolength and full-tree wheeled and tracked harvesters, while grapple rotators are for forwarders, timber trucks, and bulk material handling. Unlike harvester rotators, the radial piston grapple rotator housing remains in place, and the shaft (cylinder block) rotates.

A rotator connects to a boom or crane tip with a link and pin kit, and brakes can be installed to dampen the harvester head or grapple swinging. In harvester rotators, links enable the use of up to four brake kits, while links in grapple rotators enable up to two brake kits. Both rotators can also be used without brakes. DW Black Bruin |

Oilgear drop-in helical rotary actuators for mobile machinery

Oilgear’s helical rotary actuators for mobile machinery are designed to replace multiple components and function as an all-in-one rotating device, mounting structure, and bearing. They o er high power density with high drive and holding torque capabilities in a small, compact space claim. For leak and drift-free operation, load-holding counterbalance valves provide high-holding torque to resist external loads. Exclusion sealing and regular greasing ensure contamination resistance.

Drop-in-ready installation is easy on existing or new applications. The SM82 and SM45 feature up to 180 rotations with drive torque of 8,200 and 4,500 in.-lb., respectively. They feature adaptable grounding to many applications, including:

• Construction

• Agriculture

• Material handling

• Mining

• Marine

• Energy

• Truck/trailer

These new components are produced on a new production line in Fremont, Nebraska, which is pivotal for Oilgear’s future growth.

“It’s already making an impact. Honestly, it did from the first day the leadership team selected Fremont to manufacture the new rotary product lines,” said Alan Circo, general manager of Oilgear’s Fremont location. “Impactful to the people working here, those supporting our e orts, the future of the company, the contribution to the community at large.”

This production line stretches Fremont into more diversified manufacturing, embracing new manufacturing technologies, providing, and securing employment for future generations.

“It’s very exciting to see our company energized through the development of new core product o erings … just like the rich legacy Oilgear was founded on over 100 years ago,” said Circo. DW

Oilgear | www.oilgear.com

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Design for Industry

Small propeller defects can make a big noise

The slightest deviation in the machining, polishing, and finishing of ships’ propeller blades could result in underwater radiated noise and cavitation, even if defects are within the maximum tolerance allowed by classification societies and the ISO 484-1 standard.

A Canada Transport-funded study on the impact of manufacturing tolerances on propeller performance (by the Memorial University of Newfoundland, DRDC Atlantic Research Centre, and propeller manufacturer Dominis Engineering) found the slightest change in propeller geometry resulted in “significant” cavitation much earlier than previously thought.

The behavior of a propeller blade section with leading edge defects of 94 µm, 250 µm, and 500 µm was studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) at the DRDC Atlantic Research Centre and the Memorial University of Newfoundland in a three-year project that concluded last year.

“Experimental results show that current widely accepted propeller manufacturing tolerances as stated in the ISO standard need to be thoroughly evaluated and investigated further,” said Bodo Gospodnetic, project lead and president of Dominis Engineering.

The current tolerance for a defect to the leading edge of a propeller blade is 500 µm (0.5 mm).

Ship propellers are manufactured according to ISO 484-1, with most propellers made from castings rough machined on CNC (computer numerically controlled) mills and then finished using robotic and manual grinding. However, robotic and manual grinding of propeller surfaces introduces inaccuracies and deviations from the approved design, which can lead to cavitation, erosion, noise, vibration, and loss of propeller e ciency.

“The leading edge is a very challenging area to manufacture accurately, yet it has a strong influence on sheet, streak, and vortex cavitation,” said Gospodnetic.

Researchers found that a ship with a “defective” propeller must travel at a given percentage slower than a vessel with a “correct” propeller to operate below the cavitation inception speed and remain quiet. For example, a ship with a propeller

defect of 0.5 mm would have to sail at 45% of the speed of a defect-free propeller to avoid cavitation noise. The smaller the defect, the less speed reduction is required to remain quiet.

“The 0.5-mm defect tested is one of the tightest ISO 484-1 propeller manufacturing tolerances, yet it has been demonstrated that it a ects cavitation inception significantly and detrimentally. The rules need tightening up,” said Gospodnetic.

ISO 484-1:2015 has been a standard for propellers since 1982, and although the standard was reviewed in 2015 and 2022, the allowable tolerance and geometry remain unchanged.

“We know that 80% of underwater radiated noise comes from the propeller, but if ships are legislated to be quiet in sensitive habitats such as the Juan de Fuca Strait, then they will have to limit their speed to below the cavitation inception speed,” said Gospodnetic.

While initial CFD studies show how very small defects can influence cavitation inception, research partners seek funding to continue their investigation in second-phase model tests in a cavitation tunnel. DW

Start creating sustainable product designs

Edited by Mike Santora • Managing Editor

Design has always been a balance of performance, cost, and quality. But these metrics do not take the full, lifetime environmental impact of a product into account. Sustainability must be added to ensure that every impact of a product is addressed in even the most complex systems. The only e ective solution starts at the beginning, as nearly 80% of a product’s lifetime environmental impact is determined during the design phase — what materials are used, how it’s manufactured, energy e ciency, and what comes of it after its usefulness ends. The solution to these problems is to deploy sustainability as an additional business metric and use digitalization to get there faster than the competition.

Designing sustainable products requires an understanding of environmental impacts early, including insight into the product’s material and energy use, the manufacturing process’ environmental impacts, and its expected resource consumption. The designer must account for suppliers, distributors, and logistics providers while balancing sustainability, profitability, performance, and quality goals. Data and digitalization are key in a holistic approach to design, leveraging the Collective Intelligence of the Digital Enterprise. Achieving this requires reimagining product design to be built on a system of systems approach, connected industrial ecosystems, and holistic sustainability indicators.

Start with systems of systems design

A system can be as specific as a feature of the integrated circuit in an electronic device or as extensive as the environment that product will occupy. Most modern products cannot be described as a single system because of the many engineering disciplines required for development. Instead, these products are considered a system of systems. Coordinating diverse disciplines when working on a project requires simulation early and often to optimize individual systems and then balance how they interact.

This robust simulation is enabled by the comprehensive digital twin of the product, first and foremost.

There is also value in simulating production to gain insight into how the product is produced, logistics costs, usable lifetime, and how it fits into circular economies. Early exploration provides a more intelligently defined design space and binds it to what is viable, profitable, and sustainable for the business. Requirements and assessments must be seamlessly woven in from the beginning to make informed decisions. One material may be selected over another due to a superior strength to weight ratio for product performance. A material may be avoided due to the estimated CO2 emission cost of extraction over the recyclability of yet another material, and components might be designed for a specific manufacturing process like 3D printing to minimize waste.

Making the right sustainability decisions during the design phase requires access to the most accurate and broad collection of data to create a truly comprehensive digital twin, that includes the extended network of suppliers, logistics operations, and energy infrastructure. Such an approach delivers the collective intelligence needed to make better decisions, and as your digital twin is informed with data collected from simulation, manufacturing, and the value chain, it becomes an increasingly accurate representation.

The communications ecosystem must cover the entire value chain and be

Supplier decisions can have dramatic impacts on the sustainability of a product. One supplier might be able to employ renewable electricity because of their proximity to wind, solar, or other sustainable energy sources.

established early — coordinating actions and data exchange with the suppliers, distributors, and other partners. This gives designers direct access to sourcing information on materials and contracted sub-systems. Simultaneously, a robust product lifecycle management system built on digitalization, weaves all engineering work together to create today’s complex products while still considering the available resources of the enterprise. Integrating these siloed processes helps bring a better and more sustainable product to market faster.

A well-connected industrial design ecosystem also provides feedback loops between design and the value chain. The mechanical designers may have requested and designed a product around one aluminum alloy in initial design iterations, but the supplier discovers a slightly di erent alloy with comparable properties but better print viability within the existing infrastructure. Whether the business decision is to change the alloy or contract a di erent manufacturing supplier that can reliably print in the initial alloy, this new data point is added to the collective intelligence for future iterations.

Supplier decisions can have dramatic impacts on the sustainability of a product. One supplier could employ renewable electricity because of their proximity to wind, solar, or

Design Notes

PLANETARY BLDC and PMDC GEARMOTORS

other sustainable energy sources. Another might be closer, geographically, to the rest of manufacturing which limits the emissions due to transportation and logistics. These types of metrics are critical in making products more sustainable across the entire value chain.

Collaborations can extend further into the value chain to a product’s end-of-life, working towards circularity. Choosing a stronger material means it could be re-used. A more robust component may also be more di cult to manufacture, requiring more energy-intensive processes. The volume and variability of these decisions are why digitalization and simulation are so important to sustainable design — simpler decisions can be automated, and complex ones are infused with greater intelligence.

Further optimize design with holistic sustainability indicators

Finally, it is important to revisit and evaluate the decisions at every stage of the product lifecycle. Holistic sustainability indicators must be integrated into the digital twin from the beginning for ongoing visibility of sustainability goals in concert with other requirements. This may require the design to include physical sensors that collect diagnostic and environmental conditions through manufacturing, delivery, and usage as well as carbon footprints and material costs. With a larger dataset, it is even possible to include virtual sensors that rely on the models created in the digital twin.

Physical sensors feed the simulation models, providing a clearer understanding of decisions early in design, while virtual sensors and models interpolate and extrapolate sustainability indicators from complex systems. These indicators enable closed-loop optimization between design, manufacturing, and usage. DW

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Articulated

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Design Notes

Making transmission manufacturing automatic

Edited by Mike Santora • Managing Editor

An automobile’s automatic transmission case is a complex casting with a sophisticated valve body with many channels and passages. These features must be precisely connected to perform the necessary control functions. However, it’s not always possible to cast all interconnections. Some case features necessitate drilling through the casting’s outer shell (and one or more internal channel walls) using cross drilling. Such drilling leaves a hole in the outer shell requiring sealing to prevent fluid loss.

More controllable cross-drill sealing method

One automotive manufacturer — a longtime customer of monitoringsystems supplier Promess — employed a Promess Electro-Mechanical Assembly Press (EMAP) to press steel ball bearings into cross-drilled holes to seal the holes. While this sealing method worked in previous applications, it failed for a new thin-walled transmission case, causing housing cracks, unacceptable leakage rates, and warranty issues.

The EMAP is an electric servo press instrumented to monitor and precisely control peak force and final position. However, the user had programmed

the ball-pressing application to stop at a specific distance, so only distance was controlled. Neither the dimensions of the ball nor the diameter and surface finish of the hole were held to tight tolerances. As a result, the same level of force could leave the ball in a broad range of positions within the hole. This variability was the root cause of the leaks and cracks.

To address these unacceptable yield issues, the manufacturer replaced the steel ball with a Betaplug expansion plug produced by The Lee Company. This preassembled, two-piece tapered expansion plug has an inner pin and an outer plug body with lands and grooves

The Betaplug product includes a body and an inner pin that causes expansion for tight seals.

Betaplug is a trademark of The Lee Company.

Design Notes

Fine-tuning the case-plugging process

With proper installation, the pin is installed 0.5 to 0.8 mm below flush of the plug body, and all stake marks are present. With overinstallation, the pin is over-driven so far that it contacts the plug body. This overpressing causes the plug body to extrude up the installation hole wall — resulting in a pin that’s greater than 0.8 mm below flush of the plug body.

that bite into the housing during installation. More specifically, the Betaplug product is designed to install in a matching tapered bore that creates a suitable fit. It reduces unnecessary expansion and has a predictable boss stress suitable for brittle materials or thin wall conditions.

An installation tool is designed to install the inner pin below flush while staking over the plug body’s back edge.

Using the Betaplug expansion plug eliminated the cracked housing and production yield issues. However, the manufacturer carried over an improper installation specification that created new manufacturing issues — namely, an unacceptable scrap rate, yield issues, and fixturing damage. So, the manufacturer contacted Promess and The Lee Company. Both companies were asked to examine the complete installation and assembly process and suggest a solution to the high scrap rate.

The Lee Company engineers determined that the Betaplug products were being overpressed; this produced excessive radial force when the pin moved to expand the plug body and extrude the plug in the installation bore. The manufacturer was reluctant to change the distance-based programming because successfully installed plugs weren’t failing in the field.

New sealing component requires new sealing approach

Force starts to increase here when the cup moves through the bore. 2) The cup stops, and the pin begins moving into the cup. 3) The inflection point is when the system begins staking the part. 4) Final inflection is when staking has been finished and the rate of change completes.

A proper installation for a Betaplug product should be terminated when the staking is complete, regardless of where the unit is located within the bore. The manufacturer’s engineers wanted to install the plug at a fixed point within the bore regardless of the optimum staking location; that was where the steel ball plug had performed best. However, in a tight bore, it generated the excessive installation force that extruded the Betaplug expansion plug.

Promess engineers recommended that the manufacturer change the programming to measure more than

Shown here is where the automotive manufacturer employs the Betaplug on the cross-drilled transmission case casting.

Shown here is Promess’ Electric Servo Press used to install the Betaplug product.

a simple force level or distance. The engineers highlighted the benefit of combining EMAP instrumentation with the sophisticated data-processing capabilities of the Promess Motion Controller. The result is the ability to measure and control absolute force, distance, and more complex relationships, such as the rate-

of-change between those measurements.

During installation, the Betaplug product initially moves as a unit until it lands on the outer plug body and begins to dig into the bore. When adequate resistance is achieved, the plug body stops moving, but the inner pin continues moving, generating the expansion force that creates leaktight seals and ensures retention. When the pin is 0.5 to 0.8 mm below flush, the installation tool stakes over the top edge of the plug body.

This transition produces a readily detectable inflection point in the rate of change relationship between press

force and distance. After it’s detected, it’s a simple matter to stop the press when the pin is appropriately inserted into the plug body. The result is a properly staked installation that avoids harmful pin over-insertion. As an added benefit, the programming can also detect parts that are upside down, sideways, or missing a pin/component.

Promess engineers and their Lee counterparts performed extensive laboratory testing to validate the new programming. This was done prior to installing the upgraded application in the manufacturer’s plant, where more trials were performed. The new rate of change-based application was put into production after all the needed tests were completed. DW

Lee Company | www.theleeco.com

Bearings take heart in ergometer application

By Thomas Renner

In today’s fast-paced manufacturing climate, businesses must react swiftly to quick-moving economic markets. Supply chain shortages and shipping delays forced the hand of many companies during the pandemic, driving innovation and identifying new pathways to adapt to the changing conditions.

That’s where ergoline GmbH found itself with the production of its ergometers. The products are used in exercise and for diagnosing heart diseases. The company needed wear-resistant and lubrication-free bearings in a custom dimension so that the company could start production of its new series of ergometers.

Shaft modifications in the product’s design resulted in too much clearance from items that had been selected from a catalog. “Since

production was about to begin, we initially decided to turn a small number of the parts from barstock,’’ said Dominik Huber, Head of Design at ergoline GmbH. Volume production, however, required an even faster solution.

Making parts from barstock required six weeks and was too time-consuming and expensive. Igus, a German manufacturer of motion plastic components, o ered ergoline the capability to produce components with its FastLine Service. The new resource features modern computerized numerical control (CNC)

The ergoselect 1200 recumbent ergometer has been developed for cardiac diagnostics.

Source: ergoline GmbH

technology. The time from order to delivery was four days.

“By investing in our tool shop with its own production line for round parts that features modern CNC technology, we were able to produce specially shaped plain bearings for ergoline within a very short time,’’ said Benjamin Haupt, Technical Sales Consultant at igus GmbH.

The company’s ergoselect 1200 model is a reclining ergometer developed for dynamic stress echocardiography. The procedure evaluates cardiac structure and function during physical exercise or the pharmacologic simulation of exercise by measuring increased heart rate, cardiac output, and myocardial oxygen demand. The procedure allows for echocardiographic images to be obtained anywhere along the continuum from rest to peak physiologic stress.

Huber sought a plain bearing to support the adjustment mechanism for height and tilt. The company selected igus’ iglide P210 bearing, which works well in pivoting movements on various shaft materials.

The bearing, like all of igus’ components, requires no external lubrication and thus meets the stringent demands of the medical field. It is also extremely durable.

The issue with parts working together properly after shaft modifications required ergoline to use igus’ FastLine service.

In CNC, computer instructions guide mills and lathes that control the precision of the instruments. The process enables the development of parts and components that would usually be impossible to create manually. The fourday turnaround time and coste ective price surprised Huber. “We had expected to pay three times as much,’’ he said. “Of course, we were very pleased. It gives us the possibility to work flexibly in design.”

Customers such as ergoline are interested in more expedient turnaround time for select components, according to Tom Krause, head of 3D Printing at igus.

The tilting function of the ergometer also allows the heart to be examined with ultrasound.

Source: ergoline GmbH

The iglidur P210 plain bearings from igus ensure a safe lubrication-free height and tilt adjustment.

Source: ergoline GmbH

Design Notes

(Source: ergoline GmbH)

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“There are di erent reasons,’’ he said. “A common one is that part of a machine is broken down and needs to be replaced, so it’s imperative to get the machine running again. Other reasons are sourcing methods failed or an expectation of getting individual parts in a few days.”

Igus’ focus on speedy delivery did not begin with FastLine. It previously manufactured molds from aluminum for time-critical developments and later added in print2mold (3D printing). “The advantage of FastLine is that we have a mold that is 100 percent suitable for series production and is not limited in the number of shots in injection molding,’’ Krause said.

In 2014, igus introduced its first 3D-printing filaments, which are made especially for moving applications because of the solid lubricants, Krause said. In 2016, it introduced its first SLS material, iglide i3, and started with its SLS 3D print service. “Since then, our customer interest was constantly growing so that we now have 10 SLS machines worldwide,’’ he said. “We are able to produce special wear parts very quickly in Boston, Shanghai, and Cologne. Last year, we made more than 200,000 special wear parts by 3D printing.”

Igus’ FastLine service was created to meet the needs of manufacturers with high product demand, such as ergoline. Customized parts, such as plain bearings in unique shapes, must be delivered without complications. Injection molding can require several weeks.

“By investing in our toolmaking department with its own production line for round parts with modern CNC technology, we are now able to respond even faster to our customers’ needs,’’ said Stefan Loockmann-Rittich, Business Unit Manager of iglide at igus GmbH. “In addition to our large catalog range of polymer plain bearings, which are available from stock, we can produce customized parts cost-e ectively in just a few days using the appropriate injection molding tool.” DW

The plain bearings in special sizes are pressed into the bearing location, enabling a reliable and secure adjustment of the ergometer.

PRECISION COUPLINGS INDUSTRIAL COUPLINGS SENSOR TECHNOLOGY

Design for 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing

Micro AM is changing the economics of manufacturing

3D microprinting is a versatile technology appropriate for prototyping, small batches, and potentially mass manufacturing.

| courtesy of Accumold

Micro additive manufacturing (AM) appeals to an array of customers unable to fulfill design intent cost-e ectively or e ciently with traditional manufacturing processes. As micro AM is agnostic to part complexity, it allows for the manufacturing of hollow structures, holes, complicated interior details, and atypical shapes — and it’s promoting innovation as an enabling technology. Accumold, an Iowa-based company that specializes in micro molding, continues investing in its micro AM capability with the purchase of a second Fabrica 2.0 machine from Nano Dimension.

“The Fabrica 2.0 will make the prototype stage of the product development process more flexible and quicker for our customers. In time, it will move towards small- to medium-sized production runs and also promote creative geometric complexity and mass customization,” said Aaron Johnson, vice president of marketing and customer strategy at Accumold.

The Fabrica 2.0 can cater to volume applications — multiple thousands of small parts and components fitting easily in the machine’s 50 x 50 x 100 mm

build envelope — so OEMs can reduce reliance on economies of scale. Micro AM technology makes possible low- to medium-volume production runs that were previously uneconomical due to high tooling and setup costs associated with traditional manufacturing alternatives.

“In general terms, success through the use of the Fabrica 2.0 is measured in microns and hours. Micron-level detail can be achieved without the need to fabricate tools, and this means that you can have intricate and geometrically complex prototypes in a matter of hours,” said Johnson.

With traditional micro tooling, increased complexity means increased cost, so part complexity is limited. However, with micro AM technology, the absence of physical tools enables design engineers to think outside the box and attain design goals previously unimaginable. This design freedom, coupled with AM’s inherent manufacturing agility, a ords reassessments of all aspects of the product development process.

“Through the use of Fabrica 2.0, you can also optimize workflow, the technology producing less scrap and fewer tools than

The Fabrica 2.0 system 3D prints micron-level resolution parts for aerospace, electronics, automotive, medical, optics, and R&D applications.

| courtesy of Nano Dimension

conventional manufacturing processes,” said Johnson. “It also promotes the reduction of iterative process, assembly, and inventory. This means that significant operational cost benefits are now attainable at the micro manufacturing level for our customers.”

The Fabrica 2.0 system enables the drive toward miniaturization for high precision for high-performance applications. This includes micronlevel resolution of medical devices, micro-optics, semiconductors, microelectronics, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and microfluidics. The Digital Light Processing (DLP) based system enables the critical advantages of additive manufacturing, including rapid prototyping, high-mix-low-volume production, IP security, and a minimal environmental footprint. DW

Accumold | www.accu-mold.com

Nano Dimension

www.nano-di.com

Design for 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing

Design for manufacturability analysis prevents 3DP disasters

Additive manufacturing is a brilliant technology, but there are a few limitations that engineers must consider. A design for manufacturability analysis provides guidance and highlights critical issues, such as parts that are too large to be produced, or non-critical issues, such as dimensions that are close to thresholds and may not form completely.

Protolabs o ers manufacturers peace of mind with its online design for manufacturability (DFM) analysis for 3D-printed parts. In a matter of seconds, the service assures that parts are suitable for manufacturing before committing to production.

The automated feedback enables product developers and engineers to optimize additive designs before parts are printed, which helps accelerate product development and avoid unnecessary production costs by making design adjustments early.

“We understand the importance of speed, but ensuring that parts are correct, high quality, and delivered rapidly is critical. Instant analysis means you can have all the advantages of additive manufacturing with even more

The automated DFM analysis warns users of any issues before order submission.

| courtesy Protolabs

certainty without sacrificing speed,” said Andrea Landoni, 3D printing product manager at Protolabs EMEA.

The DFM analysis is available globally on parts uploaded to Protolabs’ website for any of the company’s plastic and metal 3D printing technologies. When users receive their quotes, the analysis immediately highlights potential manufacturability advisories concerning thin walls, small gaps, and parts that exceed maximum size restrictions. This eliminates lost-time incidents for most common issues, preventing engineers from proceeding with orders only to discover issues hours later. While most problems are solved, there are circumstances where the user may still require further support.

“Protolabs understands that specific projects require technical consultancy to solve complex issues. In these circumstances, our Application Engineers are still on hand to overcome these challenges and accelerate the process,” said Landoni.

The company has also recently broadened its additive material and finishing options. Product developers and engineers can now choose 3D-printed silicone in multiple levels of shore-A hardness. The material is 100% pure silicone, which is biocompatible

and functional at various temperatures. Earlier this year, vapor smoothing was launched for select materials, providing enhanced finishes that eliminate rough surfaces and leave a glossy, aesthetic appearance on 3D-printed parts. DW

Protolabs

www.protolabs.com

The online manufacturability analysis provides design guidance so that engineers can correct and reevaluate parts quickly.

| courtesy Protolabs

Design for 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing

Orthopaedic surgery lab builds sensor-embedded smart casts for children

Modern 3D-printed casts are lightweight and customizable. The Billi Research Lab is advancing 3D-printed smart casts by embedding sensors that monitor the healing process.

The Billi Research Lab, supported by the Luskin Orthopaedic Institute for Children (LuskinOIC) at UCLA, aims to improve patient quality of life by developing breakthrough technologies and solutions to address unmet clinical needs.

nano3Dprint has entered a collaboration with the lab so that Dr. Fabrizio Billi and his team can build integrated microcontroller systems for sensor-embedded devices for children. Devices currently under development include scoliosis braces, smart casts, and Ponseti braces, which are used to treat clubfoot.

“We’re looking forward to utilizing nano3Dprint’s B3300 Dual-Dispensing 3D Printer to further our research and development of wearables, fusion sensors, and smart textiles. Current additive technologies are not versatile enough to allow us to build the complex, multifunctional devices required to provide modern and truly disruptive healthcare,” said Dr. Billi, director of the musculoskeletal devices and technologies development group.

The Billi Research Lab’s smart cast project will deliver real-time details about the fracture healing process, providing early warning of compartment syndrome. In this dangerous condition, swelling inside the cast limits blood flow to the limb, causing tissue necrosis.

| courtesy of Tom Claes

Dr. Billi and his team intend to use nano3Dprint’s B3300

Dual-Dispensing 3D Printer to research and develop wearables, fusion sensors, and smart textiles.

“We’re excited to collaborate with Dr. Billi as he pioneers new medical devices to enhance patient care. One of our primary objectives is to improve research and development via multimaterial 3D printing that ultimately leads to improvements across many sectors,” said Ramsey Stevens, nano3Dprint’s CEO.

nano3Dprint’s B3300 will be used to 3D print the smart cast’s electronic package, including sensors printed directly on supports easily embeddable in the cast structure. The 3D printed circuits and sensors will allow complete integration and intelligent distribution of battery and wiring, eliminating the need for external wiring and obtrusive components. Moreover, the embedded circuit will allow for the connection of many sensors where necessary. A similar system could be made for the Ponseti brace with an electronics bar that attaches to or replaces the bar that connects the shoes. Similar electronics could be integrated into the “ribs” of an advanced scoliosis brace.

Dr. Billi and his team also hope to 3D print sensors directly on living tissues like bone, cartilage, tendons, and skin in a process already in progress that has shown promise.

“Monitoring mechanical and physiological parameters directly on the tissue would allow our team to significantly advance our understanding of health status and tissue response to treatment,” said Dr. Billi. “More importantly, they will be able to obtain the necessary biofeedback to move from developing therapeutic devices to developing theranostic devices.” DW

nano3Dprint

www.nano3dprint.com

Design for 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing

Smart build plates solve AM problems

This Fabrisonic SmartPlate has optical strain gauges and thermal sensors built into the metal. The printed geometry on top was built using PBF while simultaneously recording strain/time and temperature/time data.

The idea for a new platform started with a simple question: How can we measure loads going through the build plate during an AM process?

Engineers encountering distortion of parts due to residual stress buildup, delaminated parts during printing, and bolts detaching from build plates needed a way to measure real-time stress during AM builds. They also needed to identify the track (stress layer) that led to distorted or unusable parts.

Fabrisonic, in collaboration with EWI and Luna Innovations, designed and built an instrumented PBF build plate called the SmartPlate. The SmartPlate has embedded optical strain gauges and thermal sensors that extract data for real-time or post-processing analysis. The printed geometry on top was created using Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) while simultaneously recording strain/time and temperature/time data.

To create a SmartPlate, Fabrisonic starts with a billet build plate and mills channels in locations where sensors are to be embedded. Sensors are placed in the milled cavities, and ultrasonic additive manufacturing is used to print solid metal over the sensor. The lowtemperature process does not harm the sensors; thus, the metal has continuous, contiguous, and direct contact with the sensors. When the product is completed, the customer has a fully consolidated metal plate with integral sensors buried within it.

To test the concept, the team put the SmartPlate in EWI’s PBF machine and began a PBF build that included “highly problematic features.” The team found that the device picked up significantly more information from this initial build than the bulk stress state. Among some of the additional data that was uncovered were:

• The resolution and scan rate was high enough to discern the scan strategy of each layer.

• Defects appeared as large compressive strains that formed early in the build at localized points.

• Slow delamination of a specific feature was seen in the data even though the recoater blade never hit the build.

Colorful strain-time plots resolved in the X-Y plane and the raw data along the fiber length easily communicate what happens in the build. Further data analysis can provide a deep understanding of the quality of the build by:

• Analyzing individual “pixels” for sudden vector changes and tell-tale signs of many build issues.

• Comparing time histories of adjacent pixels to highlight problems in the build.

Fabrisonic continues to evolve the concept of the SmartPlate by adding various sensors, including thermocouples and vibration sensors. The team recently upgraded an EOS M290 for further investigations for quality monitoring. DW

Fabrisonic www.fabrisonic.com

Fabrisonic recorded the strain-time plots resolved in the X-Y plane (left) and the raw data along the fiber length (right).

Simcenter updates expand simulation for electronics and aerospace design

The latest release of Simcenter software for mechanical simulation helps streamline electrification engineering projects, assists new aircraft meet margins of safety, and simplifies durability testing across many industries.

Addressing complex engineering challenges such as developing products that are more powerful, yet greener, and lighter yet stronger, requires a fully-integrated CAE solution,” said Jean-Claude Ercolanelli, Senior Vice President, Simulation and Test Solutions, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “The latest release of Simcenter o ers a host of powerful enhancements to help engineers meet those challenges e ciently and significantly faster, whether that is getting tire contact simulations solved 45% quicker or reducing airframe structure preprocessing by up to 80%.

The highlights in this release include: For those exploring Additive Manufacturing (AM), build process simulation is a must, particularly when dealing with metals-based powder-bed fusion production methods. The complex nature of these processes usually require the AM engineer to collaborate with an experienced CAE expert. The latest release of Siemens’ Simcenter 3D software introduces a simplified application for simulation of the powder-bed fusion (PBF) build process that is easy to use for engineers without in-depth CAE expertise. Using a robust voxel-based mesh in the background,

it can quickly model and simulate the PBF build process, allowing engineers to gain a good understanding whether a part will build successfully. More detailed analysis can then be performed by CAE experts also using Simcenter 3D, thus enhancing collaboration

Following on from the introduction of the ability to launch simulations on remote HPC systems directly from within Simcenter 3D, engineers now

have the ability to review simulation results directly from the Remote Simulation interface. This helps engineers determine if simulation studies ran correctly before transferring large results files back to a local workstation for in-depth evaluation

Electrification is a major trend across the Automotive industry and development of new Electric Vehicle (EV) powertrains tend to be broken into

silos for e-motor design, transmission analysis, NVH and acoustics. Simcenter mechanical simulation tools can help automakers break these silos by helping critical load, design and model information to flow easily between each of these disciplines for EV powertrain development. Beyond EV development, additional new capabilities in this release improve simulation of other automotive applications from NVH, to tires, to windshield wiper performance.

CAE Solutions

Highlights includes: The new contact pattern display in Simcenter 3D helps analyze wiper contact patterns. By modeling the wiper as a flexible body combined with contact elements, the new contact pattern display will show easy to interpret results of the wiper forces across the windshield, allowing the

user to learn how consistently or inconsistently the forces are distributed and if the wiper design is working as expected, without the need for costly and time-consuming physical testing. The latest release of Siemens’ Simcenter Tire software has an updated road contact algorithm to reduce the large amount of road data exchange

required to build the high-fidelity tire models required for driving simulators and Hardware-in-the-Loop set-ups. This means that computational performance is increased by up to 45% enabling the use of high-fidelity tire models in realtime applications

For the Aerospace industry, new capabilities reduce the number

of models needed to simulate the behavior of thin aircraft skins and perform margin of safety calculations more quickly than ever before. In addition to the new improved airframe applications, Simcenter can help engineers better understand rocket launch dynamics by simulating the liquid sloshing in fuel tanks.

New standard calculation templates have been added to the margin of safety analysis tools within Simcenter 3D. These new templates automatically prefill all the inputs based on a set of rules so the engineer just needs to select the geometry to apply calculation to — removing the traditional reliance of custom script development and the associated maintenance costs

A new capability in Simcenter Nastran software helps airframe engineers with thin skinned airframe structures that have di erent sti ness behavior depending on the load case; tension (membrane) vs. compression (shear). Today, engineers typically create multiple models and properties to account for all the di erent loading conditions. The new tension-only-quad will change from membrane behavior to shear behavior automatically so only a single model is needed to represent an airframe structure — reducing simulation preprocessing time by up to 80%

While not isolated to aerospace and rocket applications, liquid fuel sloshing dynamics in storage tanks can pose a challenge to guidance systems. In this latest release of Simcenter Nastran, the new incompressible fluid model helps to predict slosh frequencies and hydroelastic modes. In other industries, it can also be used for evaluating sloshing in cargo, ballast or fuel tanks of large ships, automotive vehicles, rail cars and much more

For the Industrial Machinery industry, machine uptime is the prime driver, but machine manufacturers often lack the time or resources to physically test their machines to their limits. Here, Simcenter

can help with new capabilities to help durability prediction without the need for specialist knowledge.

Simcenter 3D overcomes the need for separate toolsets and knowledge for proper durability by streamlining and automating strength analysis. Simcenter 3D can automatically calculate the parameters needed to adhere to the industry standard FKM guidelines. This means engineers can conduct durability analysis directly from their stress analysis results, to ultimately help machines meet operation requirements.

Industrial power transformers need to meet strict noise emission standards and qualify the EMAG-Acoustics models for transformer development. Simcenter 3D can now simulate the complex multidisciplinary magnetostriction e ects that cause transformer noise very quickly and accurately. Additionally, the forces calculated can be used both for noise and vibration assessment allowing electromagnetics and acoustic performance simulation within a single environment.

Lastly, industrial machines often have rotating shafts spinning at high speeds which can also vibrate. Engineers use rotor dynamics simulation and Campbell diagrams to understand the vibration frequencies at various operating speeds — but these are only applicable to linear systems. When working with non-linear bushing systems, Simcenter 3D allows the calculation of complex modes during a nonlinear harmonic response to generate a Campbell diagram so that critical speeds of a nonlinear system can be assessed, providing a greater level of understanding of complex rotating components. DW

Siemens Digital Industries So ware www.sw.siemens.com

Simulation expedites design

The MELSOFT Gemini 3D Simulator Software allows users to expedite the design and construction of manufacturing projects as they introduce new automation components to their facility. By connecting to various software and factory devices, Gemini provides visualization, simulation, and the streamlining of work processes.

Gemini operates using a PC-based 3D digital space and connects directly to factory devices without having to go through an OPC server. This enables 3D data to be updated in digital spaces approximately 12 times faster than OPC environments. As engineers use the software for their verification purposes, they can test and debug the automation logic for machines and systems, as well as check the operation of the planned production facility prior to construction. As their projects advance into operation and maintenance phases, engineers can quickly identify the causes of abnormal occurrences in their production line using logged data to step through and review the error event on the synchronized 3D model, PLC sequence monitor, waveform display, and video data.

Gemini includes a hardware menu that o ers selection from approximately 2,500 types of production equipment, including robots, conveyors, processing machines, and more. These can be combined in a simulated 3D production facility via easy drag and drop operation. Users can also set parameters to adjust the way the virtual production line operates. DW Mitsubishi

President, Urology Boston Scientific

Chief Strategy Officer Moon Surgical

JEFFERY ALVAREZ

MEGHAN SCANLON CEO, Chairman, President Becton Dickinson

TOM POLEN CEO, Chairman Boston Scientific

MIKE MAHONEY Senior Vice President, Sales Boston Scientific

KRISTIN LAROCCA

President, Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies Stryker

ROBERT COHEN

Global Head of Robotics R&D Johnson & Johnson MedTech

MARTIN BUEHLER CEO OssoVR

JUSTIN BARAD

Sensor Notes

The Smart Flex E ector is designed for handling loads of up to 6 kg. For machine manufacturers and users, it opens a wide range of new applications which were di cult or not possible with previous equipment.

On the sensors scene: new components om around the industry

Edited by Mike Santora • Managing Editor

Bosch Rexroth

Smart Flex E ector makes robots more sensitive

Small component, significant impact: The Smart Flex E ector, a new, sensor-based compensation module from Bosch Rexroth, gives robots and Cartesian linear systems human-like sensitivity and thus o ers new opportunities for factory automation. Processes that are di cult to manage can now be automated, optimized, and monitored through simple retrofitting. Thanks to a kinematics system that works independently in six degrees of freedom, the tactile device with sensitive touch precisely records the position of the workpiece and passes the information to the robot control unit for active compensation purposes. Typical applications include joining processes with minimal tolerances, complex assembly work, or di cult handling tasks. Errors and rejects are minimized, and teaching and commissioning can be done more easily and quickly.

The Smart Flex Effector is designed for handling loads of up to 6 kg. For machine manufacturers and users, it opens a wide range of new applications which were difficult or not possible with previous equipment, such as passive compensation units, forcetorque sensors, and visual systems. The applications range from process automation and quality monitoring to teaching and the controlled handling of objects.

Quantum leap in process automation

With its differentiated kinematics, the Smart Flex Effector can correct processes with great complexity and tight tolerances, such as positional deviations between the tool and the workpieces or in complex joining processes with minimal tolerances. Thanks to this tactile sensitivity, tasks that were not automatable can now be performed by robots.

Quicker teaching

In another area, the Smart Flex Effector also reduces the time previously needed for teaching processes. Thanks to the 6D position recording, the robotic control system can read the exact coordinates for gripping and placing points directly. Repeated learning during operation is possible in an automated manner. Robots can also be taught manually — simply by moving them into position by hand.

Sensitive handling of objects

Even during sampling, the Smart Flex Effector can be used to recognize positional deviations and, with the help of the sensor system, determine the exact position of the object. The robot accurately picks up assembly or handling objects, positions them in a controlled manner, and places or sorts them reliably. Even parts made of glass or other fragile materials can now be handled safely. To ensure maximum productivity, the compensation module can be actively moved into the zero position and electromechanically locked for fast transfer runs.

Embedded within medical devices, NewTek linear position sensors play a critical role in the safe and accurate performance of healthcare equipment used in patient care.

POSITAL

A new generation of incremental encoders

POSITAL has launched a major upgrade to its IXARC family of incremental rotary encoders. These encoders feature new magnetic sensor technology and more energy-efficient embedded microcontrollers. While remaining mechanically and electrically compatible with earlier models, the new encoders will benefit customers by reducing power consumption — an important consideration in complex applications where multiple devices are connected to the control system.

These updated encoders are just the first of a series of products that POSITAL will be rolling out over the next year. “Our aim here is to improve the performance, ease-of-use, and availability of our encoders and inclinometers,” said Christian Fell, head of POSITAL’s American operations.“This program, labeled NeXtGen, will update the core technologies used in our

products, both to improve performance and to strengthen our supply chains.”

The new IXARC incremental encoders use a TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance) sensing technology in place of the Hall-effect sensors used on previous models. TMR sensors offer higher magnetic sensitivity, creating possibilities for improved resolution. TMR sensors are also less temperature sensitive and more energy-efficient than their predecessors. POSITAL will introduce TMR technology across its full range of rotary encoders, including absolute industrial encoders and its extensive line of kit encoders. The TMR sensors will be connected to a new generation of microcontrollers that offer a 60% energy consumption improvement over older components and can support new signal processing algorithms.

Another goal of NeXtGen is the simplification and rationalization of POSITAL’s supply chain. Fell continued: “The past few years have brought

Sensor Notes

home the importance of robust supply chains. POSITAL’s NeXtGen products have been designed to reduce dependencies on singlesource suppliers and to streamline production.”

NewTek

Medical sensors stand up to frequent autoclave cycles

NewTek medical sensors withstand the e ects of autoclave cycles used to sterilize medical equipment before surgical procedures or other medical uses. According to the Centers for Disease Control, steam sterilization, as accomplished in an autoclave, is the most widely used and dependable method of sanitizing critical medical equipment for infection control.

Embedded within medical devices, NewTek linear position sensors play a critical role in the safe and accurate performance of healthcare equipment used in patient care. A small size, large measurement range, accuracy, and resistance to environment e ects make them suitable for medical devices, especially those frequently sanitized in autoclaves that use pressurized steam or another gas to perform sterilization.

For example, the NewTek M-375 Series Miniature AC LVDTs popularly serve as components within medical devices as they are highly resistant to harsh and high-pressure environments

and o er a compact 3/8-in. diameter size to fit in tight space restrictions. With a corrosion-resistant, nickeliron alloy housing and core, these sensors can operate in temperature extremes of -65°to +400°F. NewTek also provides customized LVDTs tailored to withstand repeated autoclave cycles depending on the customer’s sanitizing requirements.

In one medical device application, NewTek LVDTs serve as a component for a bone drill, delivering feedback on drilling depth to tenths of a millimeter so surgeons can accurately determine the depth of their drill bit during orthopedic surgery. The sensors are hermetically sealed to withstand exposure to 220°F pressurized steam of an autoclave that sanitizes the instrument.

Teledyne e2v, a part of Teledyne Technologies, has released its Optimom 1.5M, the latest member of the Optimom line, a new range of turnkey optical modules that can be instantly integrated into vision systems.

Teledyne e2v

1.5 Megapixel version of Optimom Teledyne e2v, a part of Teledyne Technologies, has released its Optimom 1.5M, the latest member of the Optimom line, a new range of turnkey optical modules that can be instantly integrated into vision systems.

Optimom 1.5M is a complete board-level vision extension made to accelerate development time, reduce R&D investment, and scale down manufacturing costs for embedded vision and AI vision solutions. It’s comprised of a proprietary image sensor, a 25mm square board with lens mount, and an optional lens in various options.

Featuring a native MIPI CSI-2 protocol, the Optimom 1.5M module is provided with a complete development kit, which includes adapter board, cabling, and Linux drivers for instant integration with MIPI-based processing units such as NVIDIA Jetson or NXP i.MX solutions.

These encoders feature new magnetic sensor technology and more energy-e cient embedded microcontrollers.

With a 1.5 Megapixel CMOS image sensor, Optimom 1.5M provides a wide 1,920 x 800 format suitable for scanning applications such as handheld scanners, auto ID systems, laboratory equipment, or drones. The module has an adapted price point for 1.5MP solutions, while ensuring full compatibility with the higher-resolution Optimom 2M module.

Both modules can be supplied with a lens already installed and focused, eliminating the tedious task of lens selection and assembly. The additional Auto Focus lens option also enables customers to benefit from an extended depth of focus even at close distances and can be combined with various Multi Focus or Auto Focus algorithms. DW

April

2023

expands for aerospace and defense with the oscillator families

precision timing solutions

SiTime Corp. has announced two new Endura precision timing oscillator families. These ruggedized devices are engineered to deliver high performance in extreme conditions in aerospacedefense applications such as Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), tactical communications, network synchronization, and surveillance. The devices include the Endura ultra-stable SuperTCXO and the Endura low-jitter di erential oscillator. Both families deliver 10x better environmental resilience. In addition, the Endura Super-TCXO family delivers up to 5x better stability, while the di erential oscillator family delivers the best jitter.

“Timing technology is ever more crucial in aerospace and defense applications where extreme conditions are the norm,” said Fari Assaderaghi, EVP, Technology and Engineering, SiTime. “Today, in these systems, timing is a major source of performance challenges during system verification, qualification, and field operation. This leads to significant engineering time spent in troubleshooting and/or negotiating waivers with end customers. With the drive to higher performance and positioning accuracy, timing requirements for new aerospace-defense electronics are only getting more stringent. It is di cult to foresee how legacy timing devices will continue to perform well in these new systems.”

“SiTime Endura precision timing solutions deliver a dramatically better user experience,” explained Assaderaghi. “Not only can designers count on the performance and reliability of Endura-based timing systems, but they can also save valuable development time that would have otherwise been spent in troubleshooting. The SiTime Endura family is fast becoming the preferred timing choice for aerospace and defense engineers.”

SiTime’s innovative MEMS, analog and systems technologies enable many features that simplify design. For example, frequencies are programmable — up to 6 decimal places of accuracy — and ensure that the designer can select the exact frequency they want, to enhance system performance. With a frequency stability specification as low as ±10 ppb, designers can replace unreliable, power-hungry, large OCXOs with easy-to-use Super-TCXOs. With a power-supply noise rejection (PSNR) specification, SiTime devices are very resistant to power supply noise, which is a common problem in the dense electrical environments of aerospace-defense electronics.

Key Specifications of the Endura SiT5541 Ultra-stable Super-TCXOs

The device o ers advanced specifications as below:

• 1 to 60MHz

• -40° C to 105° C operating temperature range, enables use in extreme temperatures

• ±10 ppb frequency stability over the full temperature range, highest amongst TCXOs, and able to replace more expensive, power-hungry, and less-reliable OCXOs

Aerospace/Defense

• Industry-leading 0.01 ppb/g g-sensitivity per MIL-PRF-55310

• 110 mW (typ.) power consumption, 2 to 10 times lower than ±10 ppb

OCXOs

• ±0.5 ppb/°C dF/dT (frequency slope), resistant to thermal shock and airflow

• ±300 ppb 20-year aging at 85° C, eliminates expensive in-factory calibration that is required with less stable devices

• Small 7.0 mm x 5.0 mm ceramic package, insensitive to board bending stress, reducing board layout constraints

Endura differential oscillators enable low data error rates and uninterrupted communications for on-the-ground, mounted, dismounted and airborne conditions.

• SiT9551, 15 different frequencies from 25 to 644.5 MHz, 70 fs RMS typical IPJ (integrated phase jitter, 12 kHz to 20 MHz integration range)

• SiT9346, 1 to 220 MHz frequency range, 150 fs RMS typical IPJ

• SiT9347, 220 to 920 MHz frequency range, 150 fs RMS typical IPJ

• 9 fs/mV power supply noise rejection (PSNR) ensures peak performance in the presence of power-supply noise, which is a common issue in dense aerospace-defense electronics

• -55° C to 125° C operating temperature range, enables use in extreme temperatures

• 0.04 ppb/g g-sensitivity per MILPRF-55310

• ±20 to ±50 ppm frequency stability over the full temperature range

• 26 mA no load current (typ.) with LVDS, 1.8V, 2.5V or 3.3V supply voltage

• Available in 2016, 2520 and 3225

QFN packages

Availability

Both device families are sampling now. Volume production for Endura SiT5541 ultra-stable Super-TCXO is expected in March 2023, and for Endura SiT9551 low-jitter differential oscillators in July 2023. Upon release, all Endura precision timing solutions will be available on SiTimeDirect for quick configuration and 48-hour shipments. AD

SiTime Corp. | sitime.com

Cadence proudly announces the acquisition of

How do the use MBSE?

military and aerospace

By Jeff Shepard

Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is broadly defined as the structured use of digital modeling to support system features, requirements, design, verification, and validation extending from the conceptual design phase and continuing until end of life. The concept of systems engineering is deeply engrained in the military and aerospace communities. MBSE represents a shift from highly developed linear and document-centric processes to a collaborative and non-linear, digital information-based approach. The traditional system engineering approach has proven unsuited to new generations of complex, cyber-physical systems.

Before the introduction of MBSE, the DoD used a robust, highly (paper) documented linear system to design, verify, test, and acquire complex systems. This approach consisted of siloed engineering teams with limited direct interaction and little or no real-time exchange of data. It has been illustrated with a V-shaped diagram that pictures the linear steps used by traditional systems engineering approaches, Fig. 1. It moves from the top left to the bottom of the V with activities related to the decomposition of mission requirements and the various steps in the design process. Moving from the bottom and up the right side of the V involves testing, verification, validation, production, and in-the-field operation of the system until the end of its life.

The V illustrates an inherently sequential process with limited accommodation for iterative activities. With the emergence of complex and interrelated cyber-physical systems and systems of systems, these inherently linear systems engineering methodologies have become unusable.

Fig. 1. This V-shaped diagram has been used to illustrate the inherently linear nature of traditional system engineering processes.

| Boeing

Fig. 2. This diamond illustrates the overlay of digital twins on the traditional V process and the collaborative and iterative nature of MBSE as supported by the digital thread. | Boeing

No more paper documents

MBSE replaces inflexible, costly, and slow paper documentation of the system engineering process with digital communication based on digital twins and digital threads. A digital twin is a real-time virtual model of a system that spans the entire system lifecycle from initial conceptualization to decommissioning. It has sufficient detail to support performance simulations, virtual verification, validation testing, system integration, monitoring, and maintenance.

The digital thread supports use of the digital twin. A digital thread contains all the information about the initial

development of the digital twin and all modifications made throughout the system’s operating life. The digital thread is constantly updated and becomes the single source of ‘truth’ about the design process and the status of the digital twin and can be accessed by all design teams. It can also include operational, maintenance, and other information related to systems in the field. For example, in the case of complex systems such as aircraft and ships, there’s a unique digital thread for each platform in the field. The concepts and methodologies of MBSE do not fit easily into the systems engineering V diagram.

The Boeing diamond

To replace the linear thinking associated with the ‘V,’ the DoD encourages suppliers to adopt MBSE to arrive at a faster and more agile system development process. Stacks of paper documents are being replaced with digital twins and digital threads. For its part, Boeing has developed the “Boeing diamond” as a new way to envision the systems engineering process and depict the addition of real-time modeling, simulation, and collaboration to the traditional ‘V,’ Fig. 2. The bottom portion includes activities related to the physical system and closely resembles the previous ‘V’ diagram. The top portion includes activities related to the digital twin of the physical system and includes detailed and real-time modeling and simulation. In between is the digital thread that is available to all design teams, including mechanical, electric, electronic, software, and so on, and provides real-time feedback throughout the design, delivery, and deployment of the system.

The DoD and MBSE

In addition to working with suppliers like Boeing, the Department of Defense (DoD) has a strong interest in MBSE for internal use. The DoD looks at the system models as an integrated representation of all aspects of the system architecture and design, including:

• Requirements — anticipated mission operations, stakeholder goals, purposes, and definition of success for the system

• Behaviors — needed transformations of system inputs to create the required responses to the external environment

• Structure — operational sections of the system that produce the behaviors

These

• Parameters — detail the performance requirements, physical characteristics, and operational rules that constrain and define the structure and behaviors

From the DoD perspective, an MBSE project is built on a foundation of three elements; the programming language, the tools, and approach that combine to produce the system model or digital twin, Fig. 3. In this view, the system model is the single source of truth and contains all current information about the system. It should be unified, consistent, coherent, and structured to provide the various engineering teams with relevant data in an accessible format to enable efficient completion of the system design.

The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) is the primary MBSE modeling language but not the only language. At various stages of the system lifecycle, other languages are used to provide specific functionality. For example, the Object Management Group’s (OMG) Modeling and Analysis of Real Time and Embedded systems (MARTE) language can be combined with the Unified Modeling Language. There’s also Modelica, an object-oriented, multidomain modeling language for systems containing mechanical, electrical, electronic, hydraulic, thermal, control, electric power, and/or processoriented elements.

MBSE uses various tools to describe, analyze, and manage the system over the design lifecycle. These modeling tools provide the various engineering disciplines with access to the application programs and support design analysis activities. The tools can also support collaboration and the ability to manage system changes, enabling multiple individuals and multiple teams to work on the system simultaneously.

The approach is a detailed set of design tasks, identifying what needs to be accomplished, what the team is responsible for, and when it should be completed. It can include specific design review milestones, responsibility for model maintenance, identification

LEMO connectors provide solutions that are compact, lightweight, rugged, and shock/vibration resistant, ideal for civil aircraft, commercial aviation industry, military aviation, launch vehicles, satellites and space stations.

WE INNOVATE.

Selling imitations is easy. Buying them is risky.

Leighton Lee II was an innovator. He founded our company on that spirit, built our success by solving customer problems, and developed a full product line of flight-critical microhydraulic components for the aerospace industry. It all started with the Lee Plug®, which has ensured leak-tight sealing in aircraft and spacecraft hydraulic systems for decades. Since then, our product portfolio has continually expanded with innovations like our easy-to-install and steadfastly reliable Quick Installation Plug. We identified the need, and Lee engineers created the solution. That approach has made us uniquely qualified in aerospace. We know what can go wrong in an aircraft—and the steep price you’ll pay if a plug fails— so we manufacture, inspect, and test to prevent that from happening. Don’t risk letting an imitator ruin your day—or your design. Contact us today to put our knowledge to work for you.

Learn more at theleeco.com/aerospace

Your Microhydraulics Flight Manual. The Lee Technical Hydraulic Handbook has, for decades, served as the industry-standard engineering reference for hydraulic components. Visit our website to request your free copy today.

Fly Away Material Solutions

Extreme temperatures, dielectric strength, adhesion, durability, or most critically flame retardant

Adhesive Tape Solutions:

• Masking aircraft parts from harsh elements and environmental conditions

• Mounting and bonding solutions for cabin assembly

• High temperature tapes for cable and wire wrapping

Polymer Film Solutions:

• Barrier Films for protection against UV and environmental conditions

• Optically clear films for alternative windows and module lenses

• Specialty die cut film parts for seals, gaskets, and or gap filling applications

Silicone Rubber Solutions

• Solid, Sponge, & Foam silicone rubber sheeting. Multiple grades durometers & thicknesses.

• Tight tolerance die cut parts, gaskets, slit rolls, or sheeted materials

• Strip n’ Stick Gasket Tape

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of required tools, simulation requirements, and acceptance testing for the final system. The architecture framework is a key element driven by the approach’s intersection and the modeling/development languages. Finally, orchestration is needed to build and manage the digital thread and ensure that information is exchanged between di erent modeling tools, and engineering groups, in a relevant and e cient manner.

NASA is another fan

The systems engineering (SE) technical discipline team (TDT) at NASA has explored several options for improving SE’s ability to develop and deploy increasingly complex missions and to do it quicker and at a lower cost. The use of MBSE at NASA started in 2016, and metrics were captured and analyzed on improvement, model reuse, and the ability to integrate and evaluate complex systems. As a result, NASA has established an agency-level, cross-center MBSE

Community of Practice and access to a technical peer review team comprising senior SEs and MBSE tooling experts.

The TDT has worked with the O ce of the Chief Engineer (OCE) to develop the tools and resources needed to move toward an enterprise cloud MBSE solution. The OCE has provided access to enterprise-level MBSE software licenses and cloud-based resources for storing and integrating MBSE models. To encourage and facilitate the use of MBSE, the OCE’s Academy of Program/ Project and Engineering Leadership (APPEL) has deployed a three-course series on MBSE addressing foundations, applications, and MBSE design and analysis.

In addition to developing immediate applications for MBSE, the TDT is working within the agency and with external partners to develop a strategic vision to help reduce MBSE adoption risk. In addition to working on a strategic vision, a competition is being implemented through the NASA Tournament Lab, providing digital models of NASA exploration elements. These models were developed external to the agency and will be used to compare tools, techniques, templates, and approaches from a broader, more diverse community and can potentially be utilized to populate a starter library of digital exploration element models. Finally, NASA has established a council of senior technical personnel to develop a 20-year long-term vision and road map for NASA’s MBSE capability and how it might be expected to evolve and bring increasing value. AD

Fig.

3. The system model, or digital twin, can be supported using a combination of descriptive languages and tools combined with the development approach.

Heart Aerospace for new electric airplane

selects Siemens Xcelerator

Siemens Digital Industries Software has announced that Swedish electric airplane maker Heart Aerospace has selected the Capital software portfolio from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services to support its design, development, and certification of zero emission electric aircraft. Siemens’ Capital will provide electrical and electronic (E/E) system design and support as Heart Aerospace addresses the market and regulatory demands of escalating performance and commercial certification requirements.

As part of the extensive electrification in these aircraft, Heart Aerospace must address the complexity of the Electrical Wiring Interconnect System (EWIS) — while also addressing electrical system compliance risk. The Capital tool’s strong compliance functionality can help Heart Aerospace to leverage automation and digital data continuity to facilitate faster regulatory compliance.

“Heart Aerospace’s adoption of Capital from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio gives them the advantage inherent in digitalized E/E system development out of the starting gate,” said Anthony Nicoli, Senior Director for Aerospace & Defense, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “To successfully compete for air transport routes, eAircraft must achieve demanding performance goals using fully certified, power and weight optimized E/E systems. Siemens is excited to help Heart Aerospace accelerate aircraft design to meet both performance and certification requirements.”

“As a young company with a new project, Heart Aerospace decided to adopt Capital software, which was the only tool we evaluated that supports creation of electrical and avionic system deliverables and seamlessly flows them downstream into the physical products of the EWIS for each development phase,” said John Rader, Section Lead Electrical Wiring Interconnect System Engineer, Heart Aerospace. “The improvement in workflow, especially when considering that configuration management within Capital is both strong and intuitive, allows focus on the engineering and not the tool. With sophisticated additional analysis models such as voltage drop calculation and the great support available, Heart Aerospace is confident we made the best choice.”

Able Electropolishing

Electropolishing for Commercial and Military Aerospace Applications

In the aerospace industry, optimal fit, finish and function of critical metal parts is not an advantage. It’s crucial, to ensure performance and demanding cycle life specifications.  That’s why aerospace engineers often specify electropolishing for finishing of critical metal parts.

With its ability to remove a microscopically precise layer of surface material and remove microburrs, microcracks and contaminants left behind by machining processes, electropolishing creates a defect-free finish with significantly improved corrosion resistance and cycle life. Electropolishing leaves metal parts free of surface imperfections that become initiation points for corrosion and part failure.

Download our whitepaper to learn more, or schedule a private lunch and learn session for an opportunity to explore what electropolishing can do for your critical metal parts.

Boker’s, Inc.

Boker’s provides custom stamped component parts to accommodate nearly any aerospace and defense application, including avionics, control systems, engines, hydraulic, pneumatic and other equipment that require unique specifications. Boker’s Quality Management System is certified to the stringent AS 9100:2016/ISO 9001:2015 standard, and can comply with DFARS and RoHS, with the ability to manufacture to customer provided AN, NAS, MS and MIL spec standards.

At Boker’s, we know that aerospace and defense OEMs demand manufacturing partnerships with the highest levels of precision, quality management and performance, along with a strong understanding of unique industry requirements ranging from space/ non-space qualifications to AMS specifications. For over 100 years, Boker’s continues to meet the evolving design needs of the aerospace, aviation and defense industries.

Precision Stamped Components for the Aerospace & Defense Industry

Cadence, Inc.

New Game Changing Technology: All-In-One Manufacturing

Combining conventional Swiss machining with laser processing is a cost-e ective alternative to multioperational manufacturing. This single machine platform allows Cadence to perform several processes in just one step which reduces part handling and improves its precision.

This game changing technology combines CNC machining, laser cutting, laser drilling, laser marking, and laser welding. Additional benefits include rapid prototyping, higher quality, and significant cost savings. LaserSwiss machining provides endless possibilities for new product development!

CS Hyde Company

D-Wrap the masking tape made for anodizing

D-Wrap tape is a 1mil blue, high-temperature, high tensile polyester film coated with a fully cured silicone adhesive. There is no contamination problem from the silicone adhesive because it is fully cured and does not transfer. D-Wrap also has more adhesive than typical polyester tapes and has superior adhesion and better conformability.

This tape is designed to provide clean removal during masking operations that involve high temperature and pressure. D-Wrap retains flexibility and thermal resistance as well as abrasion and chemical resistance. This helps to reduce failures due to cracking and backing deterioration. The silicone adhesive provides for higher heat resistance than many other adhesives and helps to reduce failure due to softening, oozing and adhesive transfer.

sales@cadenceinc.com

www.cadenceinc.com

Tel: 540-248-2200

Fax: 540-248-4400

J.W. Winco, Inc.

Spring Loaded Devices from J.W. Winco, Inc.

When you need to align, hold, or latch di erent parts of equipment together, you need a spring-loaded device. These locking systems are designed to facilitate repetitive positioning operations on machines and equipment or parts undergoing machining. Spring-loaded devices create a secure connection with limited play. JW Winco has many di erent versions and types for your application requirement.

Check out www.jwwinco.com to find out more!

LEMO USA, INC.

LEMO’s M Series Vacuum-Tight Connectors for Aerospace Applications

Extending the capabilities of its field-proven M Series, LEMO has released the new M Series HY, a new model specifically designed for applications requiring vacuum-tight connections in harsh environments. Ultra-low leak rate coupled with a wide operating temperature range allows for unmatched performance in optical enclosures or high-altitude applications.

The M Series Vacuum-Tight provides customers with the highest density ratchet coupling connectors on the market where vacuum-tight integrations are required. This connector o ers reliable, safe, rugged, and lightweight interconnect solutions for aerospace, automotive, defense, tactical communication, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications.

Key features:

• Ultra-low leak rates.

• Optimized PCB tails enabling easier PCB routings on high-density configurations.

• Vacuum-tight sealing over an extended temperature range -55° to +150° C.

• High vibration resistance.

Motorizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Unmanned vehicles require reliable components and, above all, energye cient drives that ensure the longest possible uptime. maxon DC motors meet these requirements without di culty. Unmanned aerial vehicles enable dangerous missions, such as flying in disaster areas. maxon engineers transfer their knowledge from custom projects to other projects, whether actuators in passenger planes or stabilizers in unmanned aircraft.

• Observation: Inspection, agriculture, mapping and delivery drones.

• Payload mechanisms: control surface actuators, electro-optics, gimbal and load drives, winch and load mechanisms.

• Drive systems consisting of an optimized combination of motor, controller and propeller for multirotor, fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft.

maxon’s new UAV propulsion drive system is safe, e cient and ready for take-o .

maxon actively supports UAV manufacturers with their ambitious designs, up to certification. Our UAV product portfolio o ers matched combinations of motors, ESCs and propellers, for optimized propulsion systems providing maximum e ciency and reliability. Hence, operational safety and flight time are maximized, and costs of ownership dramatically cut down. maxon is continuously enhancing its portfolio to o er customers an extensive range of solutions. Reach out to us to get your ideas o the ground!

Visit uav.maxongroup.com for more maxon solutions.

New England Wire Technologies

Advancing innovation for over 100 years

Why accept a standard product for your custom application?

NEWT is committed to being the premier manufacturer of choice for customers requiring specialty wire, cable and extruded tubing to meet existing and emerging worldwide markets. Our custom products and solutions are not only engineered to the exacting specifications of our customers, but designed to perform under the harsh conditions of today’s advanced manufacturing processes. Cables we specialize in are LITZ, multi-conductor cables, hybrid configurations, coaxial, twin axial, miniature and micro-miniature coaxial cables, ultra flexible, high flex life, low/high temperature cables, braids, and a variety of proprietary cable designs. Contact us today and let us help you dream beyond today’s technology and achieve the impossible.

NEWENGLANDWIRE TECHNOLOGIES

maxon precision motors, inc.

125 Dever Drive Taunton, MA 02780

Phone: 508-677-0520

info.us@maxongroup.com

www.maxongroup.us

Contact info: New England Wire Technologies www.newenglandwire.com 603.838.6624

The Lee Company

Miniature Latching Solenoid Valve for Power Sensitive Applications

The Lee Company’s new Latching Solenoid Valve is the ideal solution for power sensitive applications. By incorporating permanent magnets into the coil design, this miniature solenoid valve o ers a dramatic reduction in overall power consumption, particularly when operating with extended “ON” periods. Unlike traditional designs that require continuous voltage to energize the valve from its natural state, this latching solenoid requires only a momentary pulse of less than a Joule to switch to and remain in state.

Available in both 2-way and 3-way configurations, this 2 position latching solenoid valve features The Lee Company’s unique and patented MultiSeal® technology which radically simplifies port layout, o ers significant space savings, reduces machining costs and provides superior reliability over traditional sealing methods.

It’s not a web page, it’s an industry information site.

So much happens between issues of R&D World that even another issue would not be enough to keep up. That’s why it makes sense to visit rdworldonline.com and stay on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. It’s updated regularly with relevant technical information and other significant news for the design engineering community.

INTRODUCING THE WORLD’S SMALLEST MULTI-TURN KIT ENCODERS

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SSI and BiSS C interfacesno license fees.

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Welcome

to the 2023 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards

What do a humanoid, an autonomous tire-changing system and an asteroid redirection spacecraft all have in common? Well, if you guessed “robotics,” you would be correct. But the similarities do not end there, and they are more pointed and correlated. All the aforementioned examples are also winners of the 2023 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards (RBR50).

For more than a decade, Robotics Business Review has produced the RBR50 to recognize and celebrate forward-thinking companies from across the globe and the original, impactful solutions they have created. Widely recognized throughout the world as a leading indicator of robotics innovation leadership, the RBR50 is also a critical indicator of robotics sector growth.

For the robotics sector, the role, importance, and impact of innovation has never been greater. Moreover, it is the confluence of multiple, diverse innovation determinants - technological, business, and market – that act to accelerate robotics sector growth overall.

The RBR50 reflects that diversity of innovation and celebrates robotics innovation in all its forms, including:

• Business and Management Innovation – Business and management initiatives or practices that enhance a company’s commercial standing, foster robotics sector growth or improve society.

• Technology, Products and Services Innovation – New commercial solutions that have the potential to positively impact markets or the whole robotics sector.

• Application and Market Innovation – Industry-specific, newly developed applications that deliver value, provide entry to new markets or improve performance over existing approaches (i.e. improve productivity, increase quality, reduce cost, etc.).

The editors in WTWH Media’s Robotics Group - Steve Crowe, Mike Oitzman and Brianna Wessling - enjoyed the challenge of evaluating and selecting the 2023 RBR50 award winners and learned much during the process. We hope you share that enthusiasm and that the 2023 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards also increase your understanding of the global robotics sector. In that small way, the RBR50 will have done its part to drive the robotics sector forward. RR

Steve Crowe | Executive Editor, Robotics, WTWH Media

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Inside the 2023 RBR50

A closer look at notable winners of the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards.

Steve Crowe

Executive Editor

The Robot Report

Each year, the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards program receives more nominations than can fit into the annual list. This year, the final selection reflects more rigorous judging criteria, current technological and business trends in robotics, and the world.

Since companies of different sizes build robots for widely differing applications, it is difficult to compare them directly. Add to that regional clusters, universities and research institutions, and new business models. It becomes clear the best way to analyze robotics leadership is to see what categories and industries they fit into.

Notable Winners

An emphasis on innovation led to 30 RBR50 winners being recognized for introducing new products, services and technologies. This included both hardware and software for autonomous systems. Eleven companies were honored for application and market innovations, while 9 were honored for their business and management prowess.

You might think giving three awards to spacerelated initiatives might be too much. But 2022 wasn’t a typical year for space robotics. NASA’s Perseverance Rover completed its first multiplesol, or Martian day, drive. The drive was split over three sols and helped the rover get closer to its final sampling location on its crater floor campaign. For this three-sol drive, scientists created and evaluated three times the number of drive path segments and associated terrain evaluations as it does for a normal drive. This was complicated even more by the fact that the team won’t know exactly where the rover would end its previous drive.

In July 2022, NASA put the James Webb Space Telescope into service. It operates as the largest optical telescope in space, using nearinfrared and spectral analysis sensors. The first science images exceeded expectations and pushed beyond the bar set previously by the Hubble telescope. Every image to come out of JWST delivers remarkable science, and its ability to see through dust clouds is providing never before seen images of the center of galaxies.

Finally, NASA also succeeded in its first planetary defense test mission. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, developed for NASA by the Johns Hopkins

James Webb Space Telescope

| Credit: NASA

Innovate today for a new tomorrow

University Applied Physics Laboratory, made an impact with an asteroid called Dimorphos on September 26, 2022. The DART spacecraft smashed into the asteroid at 3.7 miles per second, around 85 feet from the center of the rock. The collision knocked the asteroid off its course. While Dimorphos wasn’t on a collision course with Earth, NASA wanted to test its ability to deflect an asteroid with a kinetic impactor before an Earththreatening asteroid is discovered.

Agility Robotics and RoboTire had two of the more unique systems. Agility Robotics started testing its Digit humanoid with logistics customers in 2022, initially targeting applications such as moving totes and packages. Humanoid robots have existed for a number of years, but none have been designed and sold to industrial customers to perform useful tasks.

RoboTire’s automated tire-changing system uses robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to change four tires in under 25 minutes. A typical system involves smaller robotic arms that focus on the bolts of the tires and larger robotic arms that lift the tire off the car and put a new tire back on. The robot, which has been installed at numerous locations around the U.S., aligns the tire with the rim of a car to ensure proper fit and balance.

Stepping up for social good

There were four winners of social good awards, including the Coalition Against Weaponization of General Purpose Robots, MassRobotics, Meijer and Tatum Robotics. Meijer deployed robots to clean up beaches and waterways as part of the ongoing Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup Program.

In October 2022, six leading companies formed the Coalition Against the Weaponization of General Purpose Robots. Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Boston Dynamics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree wrote an open letter pledging not to support the weaponization of their robots or software. Understanding their commitment alone is not enough to fully address the risk of weaponized robots, the coalition called on others in the industry and

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RBR50 Introduction

policymakers to also promote the safe use of these robots and to prohibit their misuse.

MassRobotics, a nonprofit robotics innovation hub, accelerator and incubator based in Boston, ran the second iteration of its Jumpstart Fellowship Program in 2022. In the Massachusetts technology sector, only 5% of workers are Black, 7% are Latinx and only 33% are women, according to the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. With the Jumpstart Fellowship Program, MassRobotics is challenging the belief that there is a shortage of tech talent in Massachusetts. Rather, MassRobotics asserts that providing technical training, mentoring and access to professional networks will cultivate the talent and perspective that is currently lacking in the sector.

Tatum Robotics created a 3D-printed robotic hand that aims to help deaf-blind people communicate.

Tatum’s robotic hand works by placing a deaf-blind person’s hand over the robotic hand, which then spells words with American Sign Language using its fingers. The process works similarly to tactile fingerspelling, where a deafblind person feels the movements of another person’s hand to communicate. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions estimates there are between 70,000-100,000 deafblind people living in the U.S. today. Tatum’s robotic hand is a revolutionary technology for this community that can give deaf-blind people the ability to communicate with the people around them independently of an interpreter.

Startups to Watch

Spacee and Cionic are two robotics startups to keep an eye on. There have been other failed attempts at shelfscanning robots, but Spacee’s Deming

o ers a simplified approach. Unlike other free-roaming mobile robots that can count inventory, the Deming ROVR is a mobile camera constrained to an enclosed track that runs the length of an aisle. While two ROVRs are required for 100% coverage of each aisle of a store, they’re faster to deploy and manage than mobile robot-based inventory management solutions.

And Cionic is developing bionic clothing to assist people with mobility issues. Cionic’s Neural Sleeve is a wearable device that analyzes, predicts and augments a person’s movements. The leg sleeve works by predicting intended movements using measurements of electrical signals from the brain and a dense array of sensors that measure how individual muscles fire during movements. Algorithms analyze this data in real time to decide optimal muscle activation patterns. RR

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RBR50 CHART

ABB

ABB introduces its smallest robot arm ever

Agility Robotics Agility’s Digit humanoid targets logistics tasks

Alert Innovation Alert Innovation acquired by Walmart to boost fulfillment

Amazon Amazon looks to automate ‘Holy Grail’ with Sparrow robot arm

AMD AMD Kria KR260 platform eases robotics development

American Robotics American Robotics expands drone services to oil and gas industries

Australian Droid + Robot Robot explores dangerous caves to assess vulnerable bat colonies

Boston Dynamics Boston Dynamics Stretch finds early success unloading trailers

Brain Corp

Brain Corp adds dual-purpose to floor-scrubbing robots

Cionic Cionic bionic sleeve assists people with mobility issues

Clearpath Robotics Clearpath OutdoorNav software eases mobile robotics development

Coalition Against Weaponization of General Purpose Robots

Coalition takes stand against weaponized robots

Deepmind Deepmind open-sources MujoCo physics engine

Foxglove

Foxglove standardizes robotics data recording with MCAP

GelSight MIT spinoff creates affordable, mini tactile sensor

HEBI Robotics

Inbolt

HEBI applies modularity expertise to mobile robots

Inbolt simplifies use of vision servoing with a unique application

Intrinsic Intrinsic acquires Open Source Robotics Corp

Inuitive Inuitive’s vision technologies improve robot autonomy

James Webb Space Telescope James Webb Space Telescope revolutionizes astronomy

Johns Hopkins University

Locus Robotics

Machina Labs

NASA succeeds in 1st planetary defense test mission

Locus Robotics surpasses 1 billion picks with AMRs

Machina Labs uses robots to manufacture titanium sheet metal parts

Main Street Autonomy Main Street Autonomy simplifies sensor calibration

MassRobotics

MassRobotics aims to diversify robotics talent pool

Meijer Meijer uses robots to clean up Great Lakes

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Application & Market Logistics

Business & Management Leadership

Application & Market Logistics

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Application & Market Energy

Application & Market Environmental

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Business & Management Social Good

Business & Management Business Models

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Business & Management Market Engagement

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Application & Market Aerospace

Application & Market Aerospace

Business & Management Market Engagement

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Business & Management

Business & Management

Social Good

Social Good

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RBR50 CHART

Company

NASA JPL

Innovation

Perseverance Rover completes first multi-sol drive on Mars

Nauticus Robotics Nauticus dives into future of underwater robotics

NVIDIA NVIDIA improves ROS 2 pipeline processing with hardware acceleration

OnRobot OnRobot D:PLOY lowers barriers to robotics adoption

Open-Source Leg Project Open-source leg project democratizes prosthetic development

Ottonomy Yeti delivery robot autonomously dispenses packages

Photoneo MotionCam-3D Color camera captures dynamic scenes

PickNik Robotics MoveIt Studio offers low-code robotics development environment

Rapid Robotics Rapid Robotics brings flexibility to robotic workcells

Innovation Type

Innovation Subclass

Application & Market Aerospace

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Research

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

RoboTire RoboTire transforms tire-changing process Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Skyline Robotics Skyline Robotics disrupting $40B window cleaning industry

Spacee Spacee Deming offers simplified approach to shelf-scanning robots

SparkAI SparkAI helps John Deere resolve agriculture autonomy challenges

Stratom Stratom makes vehicle refueling safer, more efficient

Tatum Robotics

Telexistence

Tatum creates revolutionary communication tool for deaf-blind people

Telexistence deploys restocking robots at Japanese convenience stores

Teradyne Teradyne merges AMR subsidiaries AutoGuide & MIR

Tuskrobots Tuskrobots develops novel AMR/AGV to automate pallet movement

UC Berkeley DayDreamer algorithm enables robot learning without simulation

Universal Robots UR20 is the company’s fastest, strongest cobot ever

Viam Robotics Viam combines open-source robotics system with integrated cloud services

Waymo Waymo continues robotaxi expansion

WHILL WHILL autonomously transports passengers at 1st North American airport

WiBotic WiBotic brings benefits of wireless charging technology to ASRS

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Application & Market Agriculture

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Business & Management Social Good

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Business & Management Leadership

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Research

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Technology, Product & Services Technology & Product Introduction

Application & Market Transportation

Application & Market Transportation

Application & Market Energy

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TECHNOLOGY, PRODUCT & SERVICES — Technology & Product Introduction

ABB introduces its smallest robot arm ever

Organization Name: ABB

Country: Switzerland

Website: new.abb.com

Year Founded: 1988

Number of Employees: 144,000+

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

ABB launched in October 2022 the IRB 1010, its smallest industrial robot arm ever. With a footprint of 135 mm (5.2 inches) by 250 mm (9.8 inches), the IRB 1010 is 30% smaller than ABB’s now second-smallest robot, the IRB 120. The IRB 1010 has a reach of 370 mm (14.5 inches), repeatability of 0.01 mm and can handle payloads up to 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).

Analysis:

The market for wearable smart devices is accelerating rapidly, with projections estimating double-digit growth between 2022 and 2028. To meet this growth, companies are looking for compact robotic solutions that are suited to narrow production spaces in electronics manufacturing lines and that can accurately handle the small components used in wearable devices.

As one of the finer robots in its class for 1.5kg payloads, ABB’s IRB 1010 meets these demands, enabling companies to maximize output and productivity of small electronics, including smartwatches, earphones, sensors and health trackers, while maintaining high levels of product quality. The introduction of the IRB 1010 also further diversifies ABB’s already leading portfolio of robotic arms.

RR – Steve Crowe

Agility Robotics Digit humanoid targets logistics tasks

Organization Name: Agility Robotics

Country: USA

Website: agilityrobotics.com

Year Founded: 2015

Number of Employees: 101-500

Innovation Class: Application & Market

Innovation Subclass: Logistics

Description:

In 2022, Agility Robotics started testing its Digit humanoid with logistics customers. This version of Digit is is 5 ft. 1 inches tall, weighs 99 lb. and can run for 3 hours doing light work. Agility is targeting applications such as moving totes and packages, with trailer unloading a possibility further in the future.

Analysis:

Digit incorporates decades of research, development, and scientific breakthroughs in mobility and manipulation from Agility’s team. This allows the robot to navigate obstacles, dynamically balance and walk around its environment while carrying light payloads.

Humanoid robots have existed for a number of years now, but none have been designed and sold to industrial customers to perform useful tasks. Any humanoid that’s

been commercially sold has targeted research labs.

Digit is the first humanoid to be sold commercially with the goal of performing tasks for customers. To help engineer these capabilities and scale the company, Agility raised a $150 million Series B funding round in April 2022. The round was led by DCVC and Playground Global, but it also included participation from the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund. RR – Steve Crowe

Alert Innovation acquired by Walmart to boost fulfillment

Organization Name: Alert Innovation

Country: USA

Website: alertinnovation.com

Year Founded: 2016

Number of Employees: 101-500

Innovation Class: Business & Management

Innovation Subclass: Leadership

Description:

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, acquired Alert Innovation for an undisclosed price in late 2022. Alert Innovation develops automated storage and retrieval systems for e-grocery fulfillment. Alert Innovation and Walmart began working together in 2016 to build custom technology for Walmart’s micro-fulfillment centers (MFC). Walmart piloted its first MFC in Salem, N.H. in late 2019 using custom technology from Alert Innovation. Alert Innovation continues to operate under the Alert Innovation brand based in the Boston area.

Analysis:

Some have said Walmart is a place where innovation goes to die. That couldn’t be further from the truth with its acquisition of Alert Innovation. According to Alert’s CTO and co-founder Bill Fosnight, “ultimately we met with Walmart, and Walmart provided us with the ability to start up as a company in 2016.”

Walmart has been there from the beginning for Alert Innovation, and for good reason. With Alert’s technology, Walmart said it will be better positioned to leverage its more than 4,700 U.S. stores, situated within

10 miles of 90% of the population. Bringing Alert’s technology in-house will enable Walmart to reach its customers quicker by deploying MFCs with greater speed. This is part of Walmart’s broader goal to introduce the next generation of fulfillment centers and continue to transform its world-class supply chain. It’s also a win for robotics startups, which haven’t always had a happy ending when working with Walmart. RR – Steve Crowe

Amazon looks to automate ‘Holy Grail’ with Sparrow

Organization Name: Amazon Robotics

Country: USA

Website: amazon.jobs/en/teams/amazon-robotics

Year Founded: 2003

Number of Employees: 501-1000

Innovation Class: Application & Market

Innovation Subclass: Logistics

Description:

Sparrow is a bin-picking robot that picks individual products in an Amazon warehouse before they get packaged. According to Amazon, Sparrow can handle 65% of the more than 100 million items in Amazon’s product catalog. Sparrow can pick a variety of items, like DVDs, socks and stuffed animals, but struggles with items that have loose or complex packaging. It uses an offthe-shelf Fanuc robot arm and custom so ware and suction-based gripping.

Analysis:

Amazon built an e-commerce giant in part by automating the movement of goods around its warehouses. One task that has remained the ‘Holy Grail’ is using a robot arm to pick individual items to be shipped. On a small scale, Sparrow has started to change for Amazon.

Many third-party companies built binpicking robots that they have tried to sell to Amazon. But Amazon didn’t bite, perhaps because those systems couldn’t reliably

handle enough of Amazon’s inventory. If Sparrow can, it will be another gamechanger for Amazon, ala Kiva’s automated guided vehicles and Amazon’s new Proteus autonomous mobile robot. Sparrow could be a boon for Amazon’s stalling logistics operations during a period of cost-cutting and help legitimize bin-picking systems in the larger supply chain industry.

RR – Steve Crowe

AMD Kria KR260 platform eases robotics development

Organization Name: AMD

Country: USA

Website: amd.com

Year Founded: 1969

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

The Kria KR260 Robotics Starter Kit is a scalable, out-of-the-box development platform. It features support for the Ubuntu embedded operating system and ROS 2. It comes with an integrated set of robot libraries and utilities that enable the development of hardwareaccelerated applications for robotics, machine vision, and industrial communication and control. The Kria KR260 Robotics Starter Kits build on the success of the AMD Kria SOMs and KV260 Vision AI Starter Kit for AI and embedded developers.

Analysis:

The KR260 Robotics Starter Kit integrates high-performance industrial interfaces and features native ROS 2 support. It enables roboticists and industrial developers without FPGA expertise to develop hardwareaccelerated applications for robotics, machine vision, and industrial communication & control.

The pre-built interfaces and accelerated applications make the KR260 a solid platform to accelerate robotics innovation and take those ideas to volume production deployment.

Additionally, the AMD Xilinx app store enables developers to evaluate hardwareaccelerated robotics applications without requiring FPGA experience by downloading and running them on the KR260. These applications can be used in production or in combination with the pre-built interfaces on the KR260, offering an elevated starting point for development and differentiation.

RR – Steve Crowe

American Robotics expands drone services to oil and gas industries

Organization Name: American Robotics

Country: USA

Website: american-robotics.com

Year Founded: 2016

Number of Employees: 51-100

Innovation Class: Application & Market

Innovation Subclass: Energy

Description:

American Robotics recently added new capabilities to its Scout System drone to allow oil and gas customers to automate visual inspection of facilities and assets and detect crude oil loss. These new features include high-resolution RGB and thermal camera payloads as well as AI anomaly detection capabilities. These features enable oil and gas customers to perform frequent inspections of things like pumpjacks, heater treaters, tanks, flare stacks, pumps and electrical infrastructure.

Analysis:

American Robotics can provide a level of automated service that no other drone company can because of the landmark approvals it received from the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2021, the company was the first to receive FAA approval to operate autonomous drones without humans on site for research and development, crew training, and market surveys. Last year, this approval was

expanded to allow the company to operate its drones commercially without limitation.

Oil and gas plants can be dangerous and expensive facilities to maintain, and new regulations will mean they require even more frequent inspections. Between American Robotics’ deployment flexibility and its new features, the company is ready to make monumental changes in the way oil and gas plants are inspected. RR – Brianna Wessling

GLOBAL SOLUTIONS, LOCAL RELATIONSHIPS

Explora robot explores dangerous caves to assess vulnerable bat colonies

Organization Name: Australian Droid + Robot

Country: Australia

Website: australiandroid.com.au

Year Founded: 2019

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Application & Markets

Innovation Subclass: Environmental

Description:

Australian Droid + Robot sent its Explora robot into old workings and caves in Australia’s Pilbara region that are too dangerous for humans to explore. The company’s client, the Rio Tinto Pilbara Environmental team, needed to ensure no critical biological species in the area would be in danger because of their operations in caving systems prone to collapse. The Explora has onboard sensors and payload capabilities that enable data capture despite challenging terrain and low visibility.

Analysis:

Australia is home to millions of species of flora and fauna, many of which are native to the country. One of these species is the Ghost bat, a vulnerable species only found in northern Australia. These were a particular concern for the Rio Tinto Pilbara Environmental team, as they live in caves only in specific regions of Australia and could easily go unnoticed until too late.

Sending humans into these caves to check for the bats, however, isn’t an option, as many of these cave systems are prone to collapse and too dangerous for humans. The Explora robot captured critical data that enabled the research team to make better decisions about how to protect the bat colonies in the future. RR –

Brianna Wessling

Boston Dynamics’ Stretch finds early success unloading trailers

Organization Name: Boston Dynamics

Country: USA

Website: www.bostondynamics.com

Year Founded: 1992

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Technology, Product Services

Innovation Subclass: Product Introduction

Description:

Boston Dynamics launched Stretch in March 2022. The omnidirectional mobile robot can unload floor-loaded trailers, working with a range of package types and sizes up to 50 lb. Stretch is equipped with a custom vacuum gripper and an advanced vision system that detects boxes and the container surroundings, enabling Stretch to autonomously recover packages that shi or fall during unloading. Stretch does not require pre-programming of SKUs or information about box sizes, making all unloading decisions in real time.

Analysis:

Fulfillment has been the top market for robotics the past few years. But truck unloading, one of the most important parts of the supply chain, has remained one of the least automated. Stretch is among a small group of robots currently hitting the market to ease challenges related to labor shortages, rising costs and worker injuries, as well as bringing more predictability and efficiency, to this inbound logistics process

Boston Dynamics has seen strong interest from early adopters like DHL, Performance Team - A Maersk Company, and NFI, all of which signed multi-million dollar orders for Stretch in its first year on the market. Trailer unloading is the first task Stretch is going after, with other case-handling applications to follow. With the early success and Boston Dynamics’ world-class robotics engineering prowess, Stretch is poised to become a vital part of the fulfillment process for years to come. RR – Steve

Crowe

Brain Corp adds dual-purpose to floor-scrubbing robots

Organization Name: Brain Corp

Country: USA

Website: braincorp.com

Year Founded: 2009

Number of Employees: 110-500

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Brain Corp’s autonomous floor scrubbers can be used to clean a wide variety of hard floor surfaces within retail stores, grocery stores, airports, malls, warehouses, educational institutions and more. Now, these robotic scrubbers can do more than just clean floors.

With Brain Corp’s Inventory Scan, the company’s floor scrubbing robots can autonomously scan and report key details about in-store inventory. The new accessory identifies the location of products, pricing compliance, stock levels and stock-outs as well as planogram compliance.

Analysis:

Grocery stores and supermarkets have some of the lowest profit margins of any industry, with most margins sitting between one and three percent. This means that many of these businesses don’t have a lot of spare capital to invest in expensive robots, and especially single-purpose robots.

Brain Corp’s dual-purpose floor cleaning and inventory scanning robots provide more value for the company’s customers without needing to double the number of robots

deployed. Additionally, Inventory Scan can be more accurate and faster than manual inventory reporting methods, meaning these robots are doing more work at a higher quality and faster than human workers could. All around, Brain Corp’s dual-purpose capabilities show just how helpful robotics can be in the retail industry.

RR – Brianna Wessling

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Cionic bionic clothing assists people with mobility issues

Organization Name: Cionic

Country: USA

Website: cionic.com

Year Founded: 2018

Number of Employees: 1-10

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Product Introduction

Description:

Cionic’s Neural Sleeve is a wearable device that analyzes, predicts and augments a person’s movements. The leg sleeve works by predicting intended movements using measurements of electrical signals from the brain and a dense array of sensors that measure how individual muscles fire during movements. Algorithms analyze this data in real time to decide optimal muscle activation patterns. The sleeve then delivers Functional Electrical Stimulation to sequence proper muscle firing for natural movement.

Analysis:

There are over 35 million people with mobility challenges in just the United States, and by 2050, 20% of the population is projected to have a movement disability. The Cionic Neural Sleeve can help reduce pain and increase mobility in its users.

Multi-site trials with the Cionic Neural Sleeve found that 94% of participants showed improved mobility while wearing the sleeve. Additionally, another study that aimed to test the sleeve’s effectiveness over

time found that the number of participants who experienced moderate to severe pain reduced by 60%. The study also found that the number of participants experiencing moderate to severe anxiety or depression also dropped by 75%. Cionic’s Neural Sleeve could be a life-changing product for millions of people living with multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and other mobility impairments. RR – Brianna Wessling

Clearpath OutdoorNav software eases mobile

robotics development

Organization Name: Clearpath Robotics

Country: Canada

Website: clearpath.ai

Year Founded: 2009

Number of Employees: 101-250

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Clearpath Robotics launched an autonomous navigation so ware platform called OutdoorNav in October 2022. The technology provides GPS-based navigation for outdoor mobile platforms, including those om Clearpath and third-party companies.

OutdoorNav so ware provides point-to-point, GPS-based autonomous navigation through proprietary fusion of vehicle sensor data. When paired with compatible hardware, the so ware also provides built-in obstacle detection and avoidance, as well as continuous path planning, allowing off-road vehicles to navigate autonomously between waypoints.

Analysis:

Robotics product development can often be a difficult experience. Building a robust navigation system is expensive and risky, and it may prevent you from bringing your product to market in a timely fashion.

Clearpath Robotics designed OutdoorNav to streamline the development of autonomous robots. You no longer need a full team of robotics navigation experts and months of prototyping to get your autonomous system into the field. OutdoorNav comes with a well-documented

API that allows developers to expand their capabilities by integrating custom ROSbased applications and graphical user interfaces or by connecting third-party fleet management tools.

Highly configurable and customizable, OutdoorNav could be ideal for prototyping and developing the next generation of smart autonomous industrial machines that aim to increase productivity, improve efficiency and address forecasted labor shortages.

RR – Steve Crowe

Coalition takes stand against weaponized robots

Organization Name: Coalition Against Weaponization of General Purpose Robots

Country: USA

Website: N/A

Year Founded: 2022

Number of Employees: N/A

Innovation Class: Business & Management

Innovation Subclass: Social Good

Description:

In October 2022, six leading companies formed the Coalition Against the Weaponization of General Purpose Robots. Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Boston Dynamics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree wrote an open letter pledging not to support the weaponization of their robots or software. Understanding their commitment alone is not enough to fully address the risk of weaponized robots, the coalition called on others in the industry and policymakers to also promote the safe use of these robots and to prohibit their misuse.

Analysis:

Robots are incredible tools that can keep people safe, enrich lives and help companies overcome operational challenges. Unfortunately, there recently has been a number of viral videos showing individuals weaponizing commercial robots. New generations of robots, especially those from the aforementioned companies, are more accessible, easier to operate, more autonomous and capable of navigating into locations previously inaccessible to automated or remotely-controlled technologies.

Weaponizing commercial robots will harm public trust in the technologies, which offer tremendous benefits to both businesses and society. While certainly not a panacea for potential all misuse, the Coalition Against the Weaponization of General Purpose Robots should be praised for taking a stand and encouraging all stakeholders to work together to ensure the safe and proper use of generalpurpose robots. RR – Steve Crowe

DeepMind open-sources MuJoCo physics engine

Organization Name: DeepMind

Country: United Kingdom

Website: deepmind.com

Year Founded: 2010

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Business and Management

Innovation Subclass: Business Models

Description:

MuJoCo, which stands for Multi-Joint Dynamics with Contact, is a physics engine and simulator that aims to facilitate R&D in robotics, biomechanics, graphics and animation, and other areas where fast and accurate simulation is needed. MuJoCo can be used to implement model-based computations such as control synthesis, state estimation, system identification, mechanism design, data analysis through inverse dynamics, and parallel sampling for machine learning applications.

Analysis:

DeepMind, an AI research lab and a subsidiary of Alphabet, in October 2021 acquired the MuJoCo physics engine for robotics research and development. It released the open-source version of MuJoCo on GitHub in May 2022.

Before the acquisition, MuJoCo had been the physics simulator of choice for DeepMind’s robotics team. Many simulators used by robotics engineers were initially designed for gaming and cinema and take shortcuts that prioritize stability over accuracy.

MuJoCo’s rich-yet-efficient contact model has made it a leading choice by robotics researchers. DeepMind’s decision to acquire and open-source the technology now makes it freely available to everyone. This will enable more robotics engineers to use an accurate, realistic physics engine and ease some of the challenges of developing complex robotics systems.

RR – Steve Crowe

Foxglove standardizes robotics data recording

Organization Name: Foxglove

Country: USA

Website: foxglove.dev/

Year Founded: 2021

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

MCAP is a standardized container file format for storing heterogeneous robotics data. It can record multiple streams of structured and unstructured data – in a variety of serialization formats like ROS 1 ROS 2, Protobuf, JSON Schema and FlatBuffers – in a single file. In addition to the file format spec, Foxglove provides libraries in C++, Python, Go, Swift, and TypeScript to help robotics developers start reading data from and writing data to MCAP files.

Analysis:

By standardizing robotics data recording and making it more failure-proof, MCAP is tackling a major problem with wide-reaching implications. Roboticists can not only record their data files more performantly, but they can also more easily collaborate on this data by integrating with systems and tools that support this new standard. Because MCAP is serialization-agnostic and thus flexible enough to evolve with a team’s data decisions, more companies across robotics

are adopting this format to take advantage of its benefits.

Prior to releasing MCAP, countless robotics companies spent valuable inhouse resources to develop custom file formats, only to create more future work and complicate third-party integrations. Foxglove identified a clear need for a general-purpose, open-source data container format –specifically optimized for robotics use cases.

RR – Steve Crowe

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MIT spinoff GelSight creates affordable, mini tactile sensor

Organization Name: GelSight

Country: USA

Website: gelsight.com

Year Founded: 2011

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Product Introduction

Description:

The GelSight Mini is a tactile sensor that gives robots a sense of touch. The sensor measures just 32 mm wide and 28 mm thick. GelSight Mini gives researchers optimized 2D and 3D images of material surfaces. It does this by relying on data captured by GelSight’s elastomeric tactile sensing platform, which leverages the ROS, PyTouch and Python. The GelSight Mini is detected like a webcam, so there is no need to install software to get started.

Analysis:

GelSight Mini can be used in a range of things, from industrial-style two-finger grippers to bionic hand research and development. The sensor’s compact design, and GelSight’s provided 3D CAD files of adapters for integration, make it easy to install into an existing system.

The company spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the company’s founders developed technologies in the fields of 3D imaging, perceptual modeling and signal processing.

ROS compatibility, frame grabbers and Python scripts are all provided by the company, allowing users to get started right away with unique AI and computer vision tasks.

GelSight Mini is an affordable and compact tactile sensor with a plug-andplay set-up. It could help reduce the barrier of entry into robotics and touchbased scanning for corporate research and development, academics, and hobbyists.

RR – Brianna Wessling

HEBI applies modularity expertise to mobile robots

Organization Name: HEBI Robotics

Country: USA

Website: hebirobotics.com

Year Founded: 2014

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

HEBI Robotics in 2022 introduced mobile robots for industrial inspection and maintenance. These robots are built around HEBI’s R-Series actuators that are designed for wet and dirty outdoor environments. As with the rest of HEBI’s platform, each robot can be quickly modified and customized to add additional capabilities, third-party sensors or tools, and a wide range of manipulators. This builds on the success of the previously-developed HEBI Arm API for quickly implementing and deploying custom robotic manipulators.

Analysis:

HEBI’s new line was initiated when a customer requested a robot to perform a task. HEBI realized the task required a different type of robot than what the customer was requesting. This led to the development of the original “Tready” robot.

From that point on, customer requests and applications dictated this mobile platform should support various types of mobility and should be available in different sizes, form factors, and with a variety of manipulation and sensing capabilities.

To bring the benefits of robotics to the variety of tasks outside the factory, it is helpful to use highly versatile tools. HEBI’s Lego-like building blocks could be key to enabling this level of flexibility. And the company has laid the groundwork for a modular mobile robot platform that can be modified in the field by the end user to tackle whatever is needed that day. RR – Steve

Crowe

Inbolt simplifies use of vision servoing with a unique application

Organization Name: Inbolt

Country: France

Website: inbolt.

Year Founded: 2019

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Inbolt released GuideNow, a self-contained 3D vision servoing and real-time vision guidance solution for robots. The technology integrates easily with any robot using a single Intel Realsense camera. Inbolt’s AI-based 3D vision software, Inbrain, can rapidly evaluate huge volumes of 3D data to recognize a workpiece’s position and orientation and adjust the robot’s trajectory. The technology can also match a real-world item to its CAD model and move relative to the workpiece location.

Analysis:

Inbolt launched GuideNow, a self-contained 3D vision servoing and real-time vision guidance solution. The system uses a single Intel Realsense (or any 3D camera), LiDAR or structured light, and is designed to easily integrate with any industrial robot.

Computer vision has come a long way in recent years, and its applications in fields such as manufacturing and automation have

been instrumental in boosting efficiency and productivity. It has become an invaluable tool for many industries, and its capacity to improve processes in these industries is virtually limitless. The benefits of computer vision’s use in industry are indisputable and continue to grow, evolve, and improve along with the technology. RR – Mike

Oitzman

Intrinsic acquires Open Source

Robotics Corp

Organization Name: Intrinsic

Country: USA

Website: intrinsic.ai

Year Founded: 2021

Number of Employees: 101-500

Innovation Class: Business and Management

Innovation Subclass: Market Engagement

Description:

Intrinsic, a software company that spun out of the X moonshot division of Alphabet in mid-2021 to simplify the use of industrial robots, acquired the Open Source Robotics Corporation (OSRC) in December 2022. OSRC is the for-profit arm of the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), which is the developer of the Robot Operating System (ROS).

The OSRF remains an independent nonprofit, meaning there should be no disruption in the day-to-day activities with its core commitment to ROS, Gazebo and Open-RMF.

Analysis:

The robotics industry has grown tremendously in size and complexity. And its need for reliable, open-source software has never been greater. It has become increasingly challenging for OSRF, as a small organization, to meet the needs of a growing user community.

Intrinsic should be a good fit for OSRC, where the team will have a greater ability to improve ROS, Gazebo, and Open-RMF so

that they can be used in even more domains, with ever-higher demands for software quality, testing and support. With resources from Intrinsic and Alphabet’s track record of support for open-source software projects, this was a smart move by OSRC that could allow the group to execute on its ambitious roadmap and should benefit robotics developers around the world. RR – Steve

Crowe

Inuitive’s vision technologies improve robot autonomy

Organization Name: Inuitive Technologies

Country: Israel

Website: inuitive-tech.com

Year Founded: 2012

Number of Employees: 51-100

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Inuitive’s NU4100 multi-core vision processor enables high-quality depth sensing, SLAM on-chip, computer vision and deep learning capabilities all in an affordable form factor and minimized power consumption. It features a depth processing engine that enables throughput of 120Mp/s and supports multiple simultaneous streams of both stereo and structured light. The NU4100 offers computing power that exceeds 8 Terra OPS (Operations per second) and can analyze its environment using 3, 6, or even more cameras.

Analysis:

Robots are increasingly reliant on vision processors. Their ability to perceive and understand the environment is fundamental to achieving a higher level of autonomy. The NU4100 IC can simplify this part of the development process with its integrated vision capabilities that are combined in a single, complete-mission computer chip.

Inuitive’s sensor fusion, computer vision and deep learning technologies improve the performance of robots by empowering them

with depth sensing and object recognition abilities. The result is a robot with advanced site mapping and navigation capabilities, along with heightened collision avoidance with a wide field of view and 3D Imaging for improved robot productivity.

RR – Steve Crowe

James Webb Space Telescope revolutionizes astronomy

Organization Name: NASA/JPL

Country: USA

Website: webb.nasa.gov/

Year Founded: 1936

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Application & Market

Innovation Subclass: Aerospace

Description:

In July 2022, NASA put the James Webb Space Telescope into service. It operates as the largest optical telescope in space, using near-infrared and spectral analysis sensors.

The first science images exceeded expectations and pushed beyond the bar set previously by the Hubble telescope. Every image to come out of JWST delivers remarkable science, and its ability to see through dust clouds provides never-before-seen photos of the center of galaxies.

Analysis:

The NASA James Webb Space Telescope entered into service in July 2022, stationed at a solar orbit 1 million miles above the earth. The telescope unfolding was the most challenging engineering feat ever undertaken by NASA. JWST is the largest optical telescope in space and is equipped with near-infrared and spectral analysis sensors.

The first set of science images to be acquired exceeded all expectations and

included the highest-resolution images of deep-space objects that have ever been seen. Subsequent observations include some of the oldest galaxies and stars ever observed. One of the most stunning observations captured the environmental composition of an exoplanet and confirmed the presence of water in its atmosphere. Physicists will process data collected by JWST for decades to come. RR – Mike

Oitzman

APPLICATION & MARKET

— Aerospace

NASA succeeds in 1st planetary defense test mission

Organization Name: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Country: USA

Website: dart.jhuapl.edu

Year Founded: 1942

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Application & Market

Innovation Subclass: Aerospace

Description:

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecra , developed for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, made impact with an asteroid called Dimorphos on September 26, 2022. The DART spacecra smashed into the asteroid at 3.7 miles per second, around 85 feet om the center of the rock. The collision knocked the asteroid off its course.

Analysis:

The goal behind DART was to perform an onorbit demonstration of asteroid deflection. While Dimorphos wasn’t on a collision course with Earth, NASA wanted to test its ability to deflect an asteroid with a kinetic impactor before an Earth-threatening asteroid is discovered.

Dimorphos had a diameter of 492 feet. Before DART’s impact, it took Dimorphos about 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit a

larger asteroid, this period was shortened by 33 minutes after the impact.

DART navigated itself to the asteroid more than 6.8 million miles from Earth to crash into Dimorphos using algorithms called SMART Nav (Small-body Maneuvering Autonomous Real Time Navigation). SMART Nav allowed the impactor to identify Dimorphos and direct itself toward the asteroid. RR – Brianna Wessling

Locus Robotics surpasses 1B picks with AMRs

Organization Name: Locus Robotics

Country: USA

Website: locusrobotics.com

Year Founded: 2014

Number of Employees: 51-200

Innovation Class: Business & Markets

Innovation Subclass: Market Engagement

Description:

In September 2022, autonomous mobile robot (AMR) developer Locus Robotics surpassed 1 billion picks for its warehouse fulfillment customers. The milestone pick was made at a home improvement retailer warehouse in Florida, where a LocusBot picked a cordless rotary tool kit. Locus completed its billionth pick just 59 days a er hitting its 900 millionth pick. To put this into perspective, it took Locus 1,542 days to pick its first 100 million picks.

Analysis:

Retailers and fulfillment warehouse operators are increasingly turning to AMRs to meet growing demand and mitigate labor shortages. Cost-e cient robots are a musthave as e-commerce volumes continue to increase.

LocusBots are deployed at more than 200 sites worldwide, with some sites using as many as 500 LocusBots. The billionth

pick and Locus’ increasing pick rate are a testament to the company’s robotics innovation and vision. It also further solidifies Locus’ world-class reputation as a leading AMR provider that continues to create critical business value for its customers around the world, every day. RR – Brianna

Wessling

Machina Labs uses robots to manufacture titanium sheet metal parts

Organization Name: Machina Labs

Country: USA

Website: machinalabs.ai

Year Founded: 1993

Number of Employees: 500

Innovation Class: Application & Market

Innovation Subclass: Manufacturing

Description:

Machina Labs uses robots the way a blacksmith uses a hammer. Its robotic forming technology, called Roboforming, can rapidly manufacture large, curved titanium parts. The system uses two industrial Fanuc robotic arms, one on each side of a metal forming table, to shape sheet metal to precise measurements. In 2022, Machina Labs introduced the capability to produce titanium alloy sheet metal parts for use in aircraft, rockets, and satellites. The result is an accurate, flexible and cost-effective manufacturing process.

Analysis:

Using material- and geometry-agnostic technology, the Machina Labs platform outperforms traditional sheet metal methods that rely on custom, costly tooling. The company’s dieless robotic sheet forming process can reduce the time to produce a part, eliminating the cost of designing and manufacturing molds and dies. It also enables a more flexible process, allowing for room temperature forming of titanium.

What this means is that innovative new hardware can be scaled up on much shorter timelines and within lower budgets, making previously impossible product programs feasible. Roboforming also enables optimized designs that were not previously manufacturable. This allows manufacturers and end customers to realize higher performance, lighter weight, and more efficient products, opening up new markets and economies for U.S. domestic manufacturing. RR – Mike Oitzman

TECHNOLOGY,

Main Street Autonomy simplifies sensor calibration

Organization Name: Main Street Autonomy

Country: USA

Website: mainstreetautonomy.com

Year Founded: 2019

Number of Employees: 1-10

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Main Street Autonomy’s Calibration Anywhere so ware can calibrate sensor intrinsics, extrinsics and time offsets, as well as provide a motion compensation mechanism, for slowsampling sensors. The so ware doesn’t require a structured environment to calibrate sensors.

To calibrate sensors with the so ware, users only need around thirty seconds of data om various sensors on a mobile robot exhibiting some movement. Main Street Autonomy supports almost any combination of sensors, including cameras, lidars, radars, IMU, wheel encoders, and GPS/GNSS.

Analysis:

Whether it be an autonomous vehicle or an autonomous mobile robot, robots need sensors to know how to navigate the world. Calibrating those sensors is a necessary part of deployment that can sometimes be timely and difficult, requiring checkerboards, fiducials, and targets in specific locations manned by technicians or engineers.

Instead, Calibration Anywhere allows users to calibrate sensors in just minutes, allowing customers to calibrate more

frequently service robots in the field without an expensive return-to-HQ trip, and eliminate engineers or technicians from the calibration process, allowing anyone to calibrate robot sensors. The software’s time offset calibration also eliminates the need for expensive time synchronization hardware.

Overall, Main Street Autonomy’s Calibration Anywhere allows for faster, cheaper, and easier sensor calibration.

RR – Brianna Wessling

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MassRobotics aims to diversify robotics talent pool

Organization Name: MassRobotics

Country: USA

Website: massrobotics.org

Year Founded: 2015

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Business & Management

Innovation Subclass: Social Good

Description:

MassRobotics, a nonprofit robotics innovation hub, accelerator and incubator based in Boston, ran the second iteration of its Jumpstart Fellowship Program in 2022. The program provided opportunities for diverse Massachusetts high school girls to learn about careers in robotics and network with industry professionals.

The curriculum included technical skills such as design and simulation, programming, hands-on building, prototyping and testing. The program included mentorship to help develop a more inclusive technical workforce by preparing diverse talent in high school to pursue careers in STEM and robotics.

Analysis:

In the Massachusetts technology sector, only 5% of workers are Black, 7% are Latinx and only 33% are women, according to the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. With the Jumpstart Fellowship Program, MassRobotics is challenging the belief that there is a shortage of tech talent in Massachusetts. Rather, MassRobotics asserts that providing technical training, mentoring and access to professional networks will cultivate the talent and perspective that is currently lacking in the sector.

MassRobotics believes that by setting women of color up for success in the technology field, they will more likely pursue these disciplines for their professional careers. MassRobotics has a lot of important initiatives, but building a program to diversify the robotics talent pool in Massachusetts and beyond might be its most important.

RR - Steve Crowe

Meijer uses robots to clean up Great Lakes

Organization Name: Meijer

Country: USA

Website: meijer.com

Year Founded: 1934

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Business & Management

Innovation Subclass: Social Good

Description:

In August 2022, Meijer deployed the BeBot and Pixie Drone to clean up beaches and waterways as part of the ongoing Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup Program.

BeBot is a remote-controlled beach-cleaning robot that rakes through sand to collect plastic litter and other waste. Pixie Drone is a remote-controlled water drone that navigates busy marinas and waterways to collect plastic litter. The drone also collects water data, like temperature, pH, salinity, turbidity and dissolved oxygen.

Analysis:

The Great Lakes provide drinking water for about 40 million people. More than 22 million pounds of plastic pollution end up in the Lakes every year, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. If this plastic isn’t removed, it eventually breaks down into smaller pieces called microplastics.

Removing plastics from the Lakes, however, is tedious and needs to be done nearly around the clock, making it difficult to

keep up with the pollution using manpower alone. Deploying autonomous robots that can work around the clock is a great solution.

Not only do these robots remove plastics from beaches and waterways, they’re also able to give us greater insights into how effective cleanup projects are by providing more data on the water the robots are cleaning. RR – Brianna Wessling

Perseverance Rover completes first multi-sol drive on Mars

Organization Name: NASA/JPL

Country: USA

Website: jpl.nasa.gov

Year Founded: 1936

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Applications & Markets

Innovation Subclass: Aerospace

Description:

In February 2022, NASA’s Perseverance Rover completed its first multiple-sol, or Martian day, drive. The drive was split over three sols and helped the rover get closer to its final sampling location on its crater floor campaign.

Perseverance uses Autonav to navigate on Mars. It creates 3D maps of the terrain and plans routes without any direction om a controller on Earth. Autonav is good at picking out obstacles like rocks, but struggles with identi ing sand, which the rover could get stuck in.

Analysis:

NASA’s Perseverance Rover has been on Mars for two-plus years. In that time, it achieved many milestones, including coring its first rock sample and making oxygen on the red planet.

For this three-sol drive, scientists needed to create and evaluate three times the number of drive path segments and associated terrain evaluations as it does for a normal drive. This was complicated even more by the fact that the team won’t know exactly where the rover would end its previous drive.

To complete this drive without getting stuck, NASA had to greatly expand the rover’s “keep-out zones,” particularly for the third day when there would be the most amount of uncertainty in the rover’s location. This successful drive is yet another testament to NASA and its ability to develop autonomous navigation capabilities for Perseverance.

RR – Brianna Wessling

Nauticus dives into future of underwater robotics

Organization Name: Nauticus Robotics

Country: USA

Website: nauticusrobotics.com

Year Founded: 2014

Number of Employees: 51-100

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Nauticus’ fleet of underwater robots is made up of pairs of the company’s Hydronaut and Aquanaut robots. Hydronaut is a surface-level vessel that can be controlled remotely or autonomously. It can transport goods and equipment and even deploy other robots.

Aquanaut, on the other hand, can manage aquaculture projects, repair oil pipelines and scan seabeds, all while running solely on electric power. Aquanaut can carry out missions without issue as Hydronaut can charge the Aquanaut and support communication efforts.

Analysis:

Right now, less than 10% of the ocean has been explored or mapped, which is why many researchers see this area as being ripe for opportunity. Marine environments are also very difficult for humans to access, for exploration or upkeep of existing off-shore assets, creating the perfect environment to use robots.

Nauticus’ technology means offshore industries can safely manage their assets without putting a single human life in

danger. What would traditionally require a full crew of offshore staff can now be done by an untethered, remotely operated, and more precise robot. The company has already put its robots to use by collaborating on projects with the US Military and private partners like Shell. RR – Brianna Wessling

NVIDIA improves ROS 2 pipeline processing with hardware acceleration

Organization Name: NVIDIA

Country: USA

Website: nvidia.com

Year Founded: 1993

Number of Employees: 25,000+

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

NVIDIA and Open Robotics developed new features for ROS 2 Humble in July 2022 that enabled NVIDIA Jetson to operate a hardware-accelerated pipeline more e ciently. NVIDIA achieved a 7x speed boost om ROS 2 Foxy to Humble using Jetson AGX Orin.

Isaac ROS also published NVIDIA’s NITROS processing pipelines, which incorporate type adaption and negotiation features om ROS 2 Humble. Isaac ROS helps ROS 2 developers integrate AI and CV technology into their robotic applications.

Analysis:

The Robot Operating System (ROS) has been instrumental in advancing the robotics sector. But users experience limitations in the ROS framework due to its inefficiency in mapping to modern heterogeneous architectures like the NVIDIA Jetson and SOCs from many other vendors. NVIDIA Isaac ROS addressed this by adding type adaption and type negotiation to ROS 2 Humble, providing a standard and ROScompatible way to build hardware-accelerated applications.

NVIDIA Isaac ROS also delivered a comprehensive set of artificial intelligence and computer vision packages to the ROS developer community that offer high performance and are easy to leverage. When used with NVIDIA’s Jetson edge AI platform and GPU-based systems, ROS 2 developers enjoy reduced development time and improved performance. RR – Mike

Oitzman

OnRobot D:PLOY lowers barriers to robotics adoption

Organization Name: OnRobot

Country: Denmark

Website: onrobot.com

Year Founded: 2018

Number of Employees: 101-500

Innovation Class: Technology, Product Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

OnRobot in late 2022 unveiled its D:PLOY so ware that helps non-robotics experts, and others, build, run, monitor and re-deploy robots. D:PLOY can automatically discover and configure the components in a robotic cell, while also integrating external I/O om sensors and machines. It can automatically generate a robot’s motions based on the obstacles and cell boundaries defined in the workspace. D:PLOY initially targets four applications - palletizing, pick and place, machine tending and packaging - and offers real-time monitoring and performance insights.

Analysis:

Although many small and medium-sized companies have embraced automation, high barriers to adoption remain. Deploying robots on the manufacturing floor is often still too complex. All of this drives up costs and the minimum number of parts produced, making automation an unviable option for many.

Ease-of-use has been a topic for years now in robotics, and D:PLOY is among a number of software solutions hitting the market making a difference. D:PLOY breaks

down some of these barriers for its initial target applications to help customers ease labor shortages and improve productivity.

D:PLOY continues the diversification of OnRobot’s product line and, therefore, increases revenue opportunities. It could also help integrators improve margins and increase customer satisfaction by completing projects more cost-effectively and in less time and robot manufacturers expand revenue opportunities through increased adoption. RR - Steve Crowe

Open-Source Leg Project democratizes prosthetic development

Organization Name: Open-Source Leg Project

Country: USA

Website: opensourceleg.com

Year Founded: 2019

Number of Employees: 1-10

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Led by the University of Michigan, the Open-Source Leg Project delivered on some of its first systems in 2022. The Open-Source Leg (OSL) is a platform made primarily for the development of control algorithms for robotic knee and ankle systems. Its design has been available since 2019, but this is the first time an assembled leg is being offered for labs seeking an off-the-shelf robotic prosthesis. Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Tech, HumoTech, Imperial College of London and many others are participating in this effort.

Analysis:

There are hundreds of thousands of leg amputees in the U.S. that struggle with mobility limitations. Robotic experts have spent years trying to create prosthetic leg hardware and control systems that can seamlessly augment human motion, but these projects are timely, expensive, and lack universal hardware that could speed development.

The OSL gives researchers the ability to bypass the process of designing and building

a prosthetic leg to use for testing control strategies. It also allows researchers to more easily compare the effectiveness of different control strategies by standardizing the hardware they’re being tested on. The OSL offers a simple, low-cost design and high performance, making it ideal for conducting high-impact research.

RR – Brianna Wessling

Yeti delivery robot autonomously dispenses packages

Organization Name: Ottonomy IO

Country: USA

Website: ottonomy.io

Year Founded: 2020

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

In 2022, Ottonomy developed its latest delivery robot, Yeti, which features an automatic package dispenser. Once the robot reaches its destination, the last-mile-delivery bot can drop its contents onto a doorstep or transfer them into a compatible locker for safekeeping until the human arrives to pick them up. Yeti follows the late 2022 addition of Ottobot 2.0, which offers custom options such as the ability to swap out modular bins for different deliveries.

Analysis:

Ottonomy’s Yeti delivery robot can autonomously drop off packages without the need for a human to be on-site to receive the package. It uses a simple tilting mechanism and rollers to dispense the packages. There are plenty of last-mile delivery robots commercially available, but one that is fully independent of humans is novel at this point. It could open up new applications, such as returns, for the system.

Ottonomy has several concurrent programs in cities across the world, including Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Oslo and Madrid. It’s also working to expand to additional markets in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. As demand and use cases for autonomous delivery continue to grow, Ottonomy is wellpositioned to provide its robots as a service and capitalize on its unique technology.

RR – Mike Oitzman

Photoneo MotionCam-3D Color camera

captures dynamic scenes

Organization Name: Photoneo

Country: Slovakia

Website: photoneo.com

Year Founded: 2013

Number of Employees: 101-500

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

MotionCam-3D Color is a camera that combines 3D data, motion and color to create colorful 3D point clouds in real time. Powered by patented parallel structured light technology, it projects one sweep of laser onto the scene and produces structured light patterns on the sensor side. The technology enables the capture of objects moving up to 144 km/h (89 m/h), providing a point cloud resolution of 0.9 Mpx and an accuracy of 300-1,250 µm, depending on the model.

Analysis:

We are seeing a huge boom in vision-guided robotics as more and more industries are turning to automation via advanced 3D sensors. The color feature was a missing puzzle piece in Photoneo’s technology portfolio.

These three core properties of the MotionCam-3D Color - high-quality 3D data, a continuous stream of 3D point clouds and the ability to capture color data - on their

own are not unique in the world of 3D vision. But if you combine them into one device, as Photoneo has done, that could be beneficial to streamlining the robotics development process. The properties of MotionCam3D Color could open up completely new automation possibilities for any type of project that requires the creation of 3D models. RR – Steve

Crowe

MoveIt Studio offers low-code robotics development environment

Organization Name: PickNik Robotics

Country: USA

Website: picknik.ai

Year Founded: 2015

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

PickNik Robotics’ MoveIt Studio Developer Platform allows robotics engineers and robot field operators to build advanced applications that include robotic manipulator arms. The studio comes with a user- iendly interface that has a set of pre-built tools to make it easier to build and debug behavior trees, inspect trajectories, diagnose failures, and provide robot recovery.

With the platform’s visual behavior trees, users can drag and drop the behaviors they want their robot to perform and click run, or code their own.

Analysis:

The MoveIt Studio Developer Platform can streamline the creation of robotics and robotics services. The platform allows users who aren’t robotics experts to code their robotic arms with its low-code platform, while also allowing users to remotely develop and test robot hardware.

The studio can be used in a variety of applications, including in space, defense, factory automation, supply chain,

agriculture, healthcare, clean energy, offshore energy, undersea exploration and more, making it easier for these industries to start automating their processes with little coding experience. This makes the overall deployment process faster and less expensive for end-users. RR – Brianna

Wessling

TECHNOLOGY,

Rapid Robotics brings flexibility to robotic workcells

Organization Name: Rapid Robotics

Country: USA

Website: rapidrobotics.com

Year Founded: 2019

Number of Employees: 51-100

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Smart Setup is a so ware system that allows robotic arms to be pre-trained on multiple manufacturing tasks and moved between them. With Smart Setup, anyone can use a touchscreen interface to stop one task, wheel the robotic workcell to another machine and start a new task. The robot uses a 3D vision system to register its position relative to the machine it is tending to work without needing to be precisely placed or fixed to the floor.

Analysis:

Smart Setup eliminates one of the limitations of robotic arms - they must be programmed for a single task and are often fixed in place to avoid errors due to the pedestal shifting. Historically, this limitation has made robotics impractical for many high-mix, low-volume facilities, because using them for a line that runs only a few hours a day, or an operation that will only run for a few months makes no sense.

Smart Setup makes robotic automation accessible for manufacturers with no programming or robotics expertise in-house. It also makes it practical for facilities that have multiple part-time tasks to automate or whose operations change frequently. This could bring needed flexibility to robotic arms, paving the way for them to be used in more industries in the future. RR – Brianna

Wessling

RoboTire transforms tire-changing process

Organization Name: RoboTire

Country: USA

Website: robotire.com

Year Founded: 2018

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

RoboTire’s automated tire-changing system uses robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to change four tires in under 25 minutes. A typical system involves smaller robotic arms that focus on the bolts of the tires and larger robotic arms that li the tire off the car and put a new tire back on.

The robot, which has been installed at numerous locations around the U.S., aligns the tire with the rim of a car to ensure proper fit and balance.

Analysis:

RoboTire is a unique and innovative solution for the tire-changing process. It delivers value to its customers by improving the e ciency and accuracy of the process, as well as reducing the risk of injury to technicians. The system is also flexible. RoboTire can work with various tire sizes and types, making it capable of changing tires on a variety of vehicles.

And, perhaps most importantly, RoboTire is helping accelerate the introduction and growth of robots in more consumer-facing

industries, such as automotive service. To date, most robots have been confined to warehouses and research labs.

The RoboTire tire-changing system is a truly innovative technology that has the potential to shake up the tire-changing industry. RR – Brianna Wessling

Skyline Robotics disrupting $40B window cleaning industry

Organization Name: Skyline Robotics

Country: USA

Website: skylinerobotics.com

Year Founded: 2017

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Skyline Robotics in March 2022 debuted Ozmo, a robot designed to automate skyscraper window cleaning. Ozmo combines artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, robotic control and an array of sensors to create a system that offers a safer alternative to human window washers. Ozmo uses LiDAR to scan building surfaces to memorize every curve and edge of the area, while force sensors provide it with a sense of touch and sight.

Analysis:

In the last 100 years, buildings have scaled dramatically in height and window surface area. Yet the method of cleaning these buildings has remained unchanged. Humans clean these windows while suspended on a platform in the air.

Ozmo addresses several needs and concerns, including worker safety, labor shortages and building health. According to Skyline, 74% of window cleaners in the USA

are over the age of 40, but only 10% are between the ages of 20 and 30.

Skyline claims Ozmo is three times faster than traditional window cleaning and reduces onsite labor costs by up to 75%. But, most importantly, it removes humans from the cleaning platform, leaving them to safely supervise the robot from the rooftop. Skyline Robotics is disrupting the $40 billion window cleaning industry. RR – Mike Oitzman

Spacee Deming a simplified approach to shelf-scanning robots

Organization Name: Spacee

Country: USA

Website: spacee.com

Year Founded: 2013

Number of Employees: 200

Innovation Class: Technology, Product Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Spacee’s Deming ROVR is a small mobile robot that moves across shelves to capture inventory data. The ROVR images items on the opposite side of the aisle and can count queued items using a 3D depth perception algorithm om images taken om multiple locations. The robots also offer live video feed capabilities, allowing retail store managers to see shelves and get real-time inventory snapshots remotely.

Analysis:

The Deming ROVR is an affordable and simplified retail inventory counting solution. Unlike other free-roaming mobile robots that can count inventory, the Deming ROVR is a mobile camera constrained to an enclosed track that runs the length of an aisle. While two ROVRs are required for 100% coverage of each aisle of a store, they’re faster to deploy and manage than mobile robot-based inventory management solutions.

The ROVR can provide real-time feedback as it can continually scan the aisle without disturbing shoppers. While it can take several days for staff to capture inventory manually and hours for a mobile robot, Deming can provide an accurate inventory account of an entire facility in under a minute, Spacee claims. Deming installation requires just one tool and about 30 minutes per aisle.

RR – Mike Oitzman

SparkAI helps John Deere resolve agriculture autonomy challenges

Organization Name: SparkAI

Country: USA

Website: spark.ai

Year Founded: 2020

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Application & Market

Innovation Subclass: Agriculture

Description:

SparkAI is a developer of human-in-the-loop technology to help robots resolve edge cases in real time. In moments of low confidence, a robot calls SparkAI’s service and passes imagery and other metadata via REST API. SparkAI can resolve di cult-to-discern details about the scene to support a real-time decision by combining two key components in real-time: cognitive input om multiple human mission specialists trained for the use case and results om its so warebased decision systems. The entire process takes seconds.

Analysis:

John Deere, which acquired SparkAI in March 2023, was a customer prior to the deal. It used SparkAI’s human-in-theloop technology on its production-ready autonomous tractor that uses various sensors to autonomously navigate a farm.

One of the main challenges of agricultural autonomy is edge cases. To be viable, autonomous tractors need to perform consistently well even in harsh conditions like dust, rain, snow, and bright sun. These factors can make it difficult for even the best

machine learning models to consistently make the right decisions.

Without a way to resolve edge cases, robots that could be used in safety-critical functions are forced to stay in R&D mode. With an accurate, confident edge case resolution platform behind their autonomous tractor, John Deere has been able to deploy their product to real farms and get to work addressing some of the biggest problems in agriculture. RR – Steve Crowe

ULC Technologies partners with innovative companies to build bespoke robotic and autonomous solutions that are designed to deliver results. Our engineers have developed and commercialized robots that work in complex environments such as pipeline networks and construction sites to enhance safety and reduce costs.

PRODUCT & SERVICES — Technology & Product Introduction

Stratom makes vehicle refueling safer, more efficient

Organization Name: Stratom

Country: USA

Website: stratom.com

Year Founded: 2001

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Stratom released RAPID, a portable autonomous refueling system designed to operate in extreme environments, such as a battlefield, to refuel aircraft or trucks. RAPID uses an autonomous robotic arm, vision guidance and a changeable refueling nozzle system that can handle liquid fuel, high-pressure gases or electric recharging. The unit is completely self-contained and includes its own power generation. RAPID is designed for mobility and quick deployment and supports future uncrewed vehicle refueling applications.

Analysis:

With various applications, including transportation fleets, remote mine sites, oil & gas platforms and military bases, RAPID could reduce the number of workers needed on-site while creating a better job environment for operators. The system’s high level of autonomy also makes it helpful in reducing human exposure to hazardous environments.

Autonomous vehicles and fleets will become increasingly common across all

industries, forcing businesses to adapt by adopting innovations like RAPID to potentially reduce the risk of injury from hazardous environments and improve company turnaround times by minimizing the crew required to complete a refueling operation. This kind of flexibility will make it easy for organizations to respond to changes in demand in real time. RR – Mike

Oitzman

TECHNOLOGY,

Tatum Robotics creates revolutionary communication tool for DeafBlind people

Organization Name: Tatum Robotics

Country: USA

Website: tatumrobotics.com

Year Founded: 2021

Number of Employees: 1-10

Innovation Class: Business and Management

Innovation Subclass: Social Good

Description:

Tatum Robotics has created a 3D-printed robotic hand that aims to help DeafBlind people communicate, soon to be followed by a complete robotic arm for complex signing. A DeafBlind person uses Tatum’s robotic system by placing their hand over the robotic hand, which currently fingerspells using the American Sign Language (ASL) manual alphabet. Receiving the robot’s handshapes is meant to imitate the way DeafBlind people receive signs from other people using tactile ASL.

Analysis:

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions (NARUC) estimates there are between 70,000-100,000 people living in the U.S. today who are completely and concurrently Deaf and blind. Although most assistive communication tools for the DeafBlind rely on braille, most DeafBlind people do not know braille due to acquiring deafblindness later in life or lack of learning resources and experience. This means

much of the population relies on human interpreters, which can cost upwards of $75 an hour, can take months to access, and require a team of two interpreters who switch off every 15 minutes.

Tatum’s robotic hand is a revolutionary technology for this community that can give DeafBlind people the ability to communicate with the people around them independently of an interpreter. RR –

Brianna Wessling

Telexistence deploys restocking robots at Japanese convenience stores

Organization Name: Telexistence

Country: Japan

Website: tx-inc.com

Year Founded: 2017

Number of Employees: 51-200

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Telexistence developed an autonomous inventory restocking robot. The robot is deployed within convenience store refrigerators and detects drink inventory. The system comprises a SCARA robot mounted on a linear axis, a mechanical robot gripper and multiple cameras to scan each shelf. It uses machine learning to identify drinks that are running low and plan a path to restock them. In late 2022, Telexistence announced a deal for the robot to be installed in 300 FamilyMart convenience stores in Japan.

Analysis:

There are 56,000 convenience stores in Japan — the third-highest density worldwide. Around 16,000 of them are run by FamilyMart. Telexistence aims to save time for these stores by offloading repetitive tasks, like refilling shelves of beverages, to its novel robotics system. This allows retail staff to tackle more complex tasks like interacting with customers.

This RaaS-based system claims to help convenience store operators optimize and improve customer experience, especially during shifts when the workforce is tough to hire and manage.

If the initial deployments in Japan go well, Telexistence plans to expand to the U.S., which has more than 150,000 convenience stores and is also plagued with a labor shortage in the retail industry.

RR – Mike Oitzman

Teradyne merges AMR subsidiaries

AutoGuide & MIR

Organization Name: Teradyne

Country: USA

Website: teradyne.com

Year Founded: 1960

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Business & Management

Innovation Subclass: Leadership

Description:

In September 2022, Teradyne merged its two autonomous mobile robot (AMR) subsidiaries AutoGuide Mobile Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots (MIR). Before the merger, MiR offered a range of AMRs capable of carrying payloads and pallets up to 3,000 lb. By combining with AutoGuide, the portfolio will expand to include heavy-duty AMR tuggers and forkli s that will operate on the MiRFleet so ware. The newly integrated company is known as MIR.

Analysis:

Teradyne acquired AutoGuide Mobile Robots in 2019 for $58 million in cash. But after some bumps in the road, Teradyne decided in 2021 the best way to differentiate its AMR business from the competition was to provide a broad product line under a single software control.

Teradyne reworked the sensor suite in the AutoGuide robots to optimize their performance with MiR’s software and to enhance the MiR software to handle the higher speeds of the heavy payload vehicles from AutoGuide.

Merging AutoGuide and MIR not only improved the performance of the heavy-duty AMRs, but it also enhances the customer experience. Putting all of the AMRs under one software control and roof makes it easier to engage with customers and simplifies the marketing, sales and support processes. MIR is widely recognized as a world-class AMR provider and this merger makes its product portfolio even stronger. RR – Steve

Crowe

Tuskrobots develops novel AMR/AGV to automate pallet movement

Organization Name: Tuskrobots

Country: China

Website: tuskrobots.com

Year Founded: 2019

Number of Employees: 51-100

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Tusk Robotics designed a low-profile AMR/AGV pallet mover that fits completely underneath a pallet. The robot has a smaller profile than any other pallet-moving robot on the market. It can lift 1200 kg (3,215 lb) of payload in aisles a minimum of 1.7 m wide (5.5 ft). The robot uses SLAM or QR code navigation, making it an ideal solution for a unit load ASRS pallet storage array.

Analysis:

Tusk Robots developed a unique AMR/AGV pallet mover with a low profile that enables the robot to move completely underneath a pallet, lift the pallet, and then transport the pallet to a new destination. With a vehicle outline slightly larger than its payload, it can operate in high-density storage areas not accessible by normal fork trucks.

Demand for logistics help is soaring, but forklift operators and other skilled workers

are in short supply. Robotic vehicles are one way that manufacturers and logistics companies can address labor shortages while running their operations more safely and efficiently. There are a number of autonomous forklifts on the market, but Tuskrobots offers perhaps the most unique approach. RR – Mike

Oitzman

UC Berkeley DayDreamer algorithm enables robot learning without simulation

Organization Name: University of California, Berkeley

Country: USA

Website: berkeley.edu

Year Founded: 1868

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Research

Description:

UC Berkeley’s DayDreamer is a reinforcement-learning (RL) algorithm that, for example, taught a quadruped to walk in just one hour without interacting with a simulator. DayDreamer uses neural networks to interact with the environment, and then uses the information it gathers to learn a world model. This world model allows machine learning to predict the results of a series of actions. This predicted behavior is used with RL to train a controller for the robot.

Analysis:

The DayDreamer algorithm was successfully used to train a Unitree Robotics A1 Quadruped to roll off its back and walk in just an hour, a Universal Robot UR5 manipulator and a UFACTORY xArm 6 to complete a pick-and-place task in around 10 hours, and a Sphero Ollie mobile robot a navigation task in two hours.

Berkeley’s algorithm works fast and is well equipped to handle the complexity

and dynamics of the real world than a simulated environment. DayDreamer’s world model also requires less development time and cost than a simulated model. Overall, the DayDreamer algorithm could lead to big improvements in the amount of time and funding it takes to train robots to do complex tasks. RR – Brianna

Wessling

Universal Robots unveils its fastest, strongest cobot ever

Organization Name: Universal Robots

Country: Denmark

Website: universal-robots.com

Year Founded: 2005

Number of Employees: 500+

Innovation Class: Technology, Product Services

Innovation Subclass: Product Introduction

Description:

Universal Robots unveiled in 2022 its UR20 collaborative robot (cobot) arm. The UR20 can li payloads up to 20 kg (44 lb) with a 1750 mm reach and six degrees of eedom. The UR20 can li the heaviest payloads of all UR cobots. The UR20 was rebuilt om the ground up, featuring a new joint design that increases all joint torques by about 25% and joint speeds by up to 65%.

Analysis:

Universal Robots is the world’s leading cobot developer. It has been for a number of years. In 2022, for example, the Teradyne subsidiary generated $326 million in revenue, a 5% increase from 2021. Teradyne expects its industrial automation group to see continued growth in 2023, in large part because of new products like the UR20.

With the increased payload and long reach, the UR20 opens up new cobot applications for the company, especially palletizing, which must have been top-ofmind when UR’s engineers were developing

the UR20. And although Universal Robots’ market share has slightly declined, the UR20 further diversifies the company’s cobot lineup and helps it keep pace with competitors that already introduced heavyduty cobot arms.

On top of all this, the UR20 will ship with the company’s top-notch global support, hands-on training and service offerings. It is also compatible with the UR+ ecosystem, which is an app store for UR’s cobot arms and a clear differentiator from the competition.

RR – Steve Crowe

Viam combines open-source robotics system with integrated cloud services

Organization Name: Viam

Country: USA

Website: viam.com

Year Founded: 2020

Number of Employees: 51-100

Innovation Class: Technology, Product & Services

Innovation Subclass: Technology & Product Introduction

Description:

Viam provides an open-source robot architecture that turns complex functionality into simple APIs, with an integrated cloud service to orchestrate production deployments. Users can configure in less time and operate it from anywhere using any common software language. It also lets users synchronize data from each robot to the cloud, combine and analyze data in the cloud, and then deploy changes to every robot.

Analysis:

Viam’s vision is to make it easier to get started with robots and support the entire robotics lifecycle on a single platform, including configuring and prototyping, coding, maintaining and growing robotics fleets, and leveraging cloud technologies to do more with robotics data.

Founder & CEO Eliot Horowitz was a founder and CTO at Mongo DB prior to founding Viam in 2020. Mongo DB is an open-source database solution for developing web-based applications.

Horowitz wants to modernize robotics operating software in a similar fashion. There is widespread agreement that robotics and automation will become mainstream, having a significant impact on every industry and aspect of daily life. However, the path to get there has been complicated by technological barriers on the software side. Viam is hoping its technology can help developers overcome some of these challenges. RR – Steve Crowe

Say hello to the

H-SERIES:

The safest cobot on the marketplace, delivered in 4 weeks or less.

Six-axis articulation

Force torque sensors on each axis

PLe CAT 4 Safety Rating

1700mm Reach 25kg Payload

APPLICATIONS & MARKETS

— Transportation

Waymo continues robotaxi expansion

Organization Name: Waymo

Country: USA

Website: waymo.com

Year Founded: 2009 (formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project)

Number of Employees: 1500+

Innovation Class: Applications & Markets

Innovation Subclass: Transportation

Description:

In the last year, Waymo started giving fully driverless robotaxi rides in two cities, San Francisco and Phoenix and even started giving rides om Downtown Phoenix to the Phoenix airport. Its service area in both of these cities grew throughout 2022, more than doubling its footprint in Phoenix and covering most of San Francisco. It also announced Los Angeles as its next city.

Analysis:

While Waymo isn’t the first or only autonomous vehicle company to deploy in Phoenix and San Francisco, the performance of its autonomous driving system sets it apart from its competition, which is mainly Cruise at this time. Waymo holds its robotaxis to a high bar. The company doesn’t just want to create an autonomous vehicle that can drive as well as a human, but one that can drive much better.

Waymo’s service isn’t perfect and still experiences disengagements, but seemingly far fewer than the competition. Robotics Business Review took 2 Waymo robotaxis around San Francisco for nearly 30 minutes, and the experience was flawless. Driverless robotaxis are slowly but surely expanding in the United States, in large part due to Waymo.

RR – Brianna Wessling

APPLICATION & MARKETS

— Transportation

WHILL brings autonomous mobility to 1st North American airport

Organization Name: Whill

Country: USA

Website: whill.inc

Year Founded: 2012

Number of Employees: 101-500

Innovation Class: Application & Markets

Innovation Subclass: Transportation

Description:

In late 2022, WHILL announced the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport as the first permanent installation in North America for its autonomous mobility service. Travelers with mobility limitations can book a WHILL mobility chair that will autonomously bring them from check-in to their gate. Using sensing technologies and automatic brakes, WHILL’s power chairs detect and avoid obstacles in airports. And soon passengers will be able to make additional stops at predetermined locations like restrooms, shops and restaurants.

Analysis:

Passengers with reduced mobility are one of the fastest-growing demographics in the airline industry. This can make it difficult for airports to meet the additional demands that come with accommodating their needs. By transporting passengers to their gates, the WHILL autonomous power chair relieves demands on the airline of providing manual wheelchair push services, while helping passengers maintain more independence.

The autonomous chair service has been tested in several U.S. airports, including Atlanta, San Jose and Grand Rapids, and others around the world. WHILL’s autonomous mobility chair has been tested through several trials at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport since 2019. The application of transporting people around an airport with an autonomous robot is a novel concept with plenty of room for future growth. RR – Steve Crowe

WiBotic brings benefits of wireless charging technology to ASRS

Organization Name: WiBotic

Country: USA

Website: wibotic.com

Year Founded: 2015

Number of Employees: 11-50

Innovation Class: Application & Market

Innovation Subclass: Energy

Description:

In 2022, WiBotic made its wireless charging and controls communication available for Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS). Because of their slow charging speed, batteries might not be practical for storing power in an ASRS, and the usual solution, super-capacitors, requires direct contact with electrical plates to charge.

Instead, WiBotic uses a wireless power system that can also allow data to be sent between the charging station and shuttle over the wireless power system’s existing control radios.

Analysis:

A single ASRS requires hundreds of shuttles to efficiently run, and all of these need power and communication multiple times per hour. In just a month, the number of power deliver “events” that occur in an ASRS can easily run into the millions.

Typical systems that use electrical plates for charging are vulnerable to failed contact points, which can greatly show down the entire system, or even require the entire ASRS

to shut down so that the broken plate can be replaced. These shutdowns can easily be a determining factor in a project’s overall ROI. With wireless charging, WiBotic’s customers don’t need to worry about what will happen if one electrical plate breaks down, creating a more reliable customer experience overall. RR –

Brianna Wessling

Doosan Robotics

Doosan Robotics Leading the Charge in Palletizing Innovation

Known for their dexterity and safety, Doosan Robotics H-SERIES cobots are the most powerful in the marketplace, providing unrivaled and precise performance in palletizing. Featuring a maximum reach of 1700mm and 25kg payload, Doosan’s H-SERIES not only has a higher payload and longer reach than competitors, but it can also safely perform highly complex tasks using precise force and compliance control based on the 6-axis force torque sensors. With the highest collision sensitivity in the industry our cobots can also be trusted to share space with personnel, all while enhancing production output and maximizing labor. Doosan Robotics also delivers in a fraction of the time of industry competitors, with an average delivery time of four weeks.

ElectroCraft’s MPW Wheel Drives

Mobile

Robot Solutions

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are key elements in optimizing the e ciency and profitability of an automated warehouse. Minimizing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the AGV or AMR is a must, and this depends heavily on the design of its drivetrain. If the OEM uses well-designed, proven components, the mobile platform will provide many years of service, handling cumbersome, heavy loads e ciently with minimal downtime for maintenance.

Doosan Robotics

Robotics

Robotics

3D CAD Configurator for Actuators & Accessories

Introducing the new online 3D CAD configurator for actuators and accessories. Using the 3D product configuration tool, you can create Festo-specific CAD product combinations to make your search for suitable accessories faster, easier and more reliable. Select the actuator from a selection of either cylinder, drive with guides, or semi rotary drives, then simply point and click on the accessory hot spots to identify and select each accessory. The configurator ensures compatibility between actuator and accessory and eliminates any possible error in type code.

Try this engineering tool and discover more online tools to make your everyday work easier.

Apex C1500-L Autonomous Forklift

Through the leading multi-sensor fusion technology and computer vision, Apex C1500-L precisely and intelligently handles pallets in various warehousing, logistics, and manufacturing scenarios.

Features & Benefits

• 3,306 lb Payload Capacity

• 9 ft 11 in Lifting Height

• AMR/Forklift Collaboration

• Compatible with Conveyor Docking

• 360° Obstacle Detection & Avoidance

• 2.3 in Pallet Placement Precision

• Pallet Stacking at Various Heights

• GMA & Euro Pallet Compatibility

• Receiving, Putaway, Restocking, Crosszone Handling, & Outbound Workflows

Visit www.forwardx.com/apex-amr/ to learn more.

ForwardX Robotics

www.forwardx.com

Email: oversea@forwardx.com

Interested in increasing picking e ciency and warehouse productivity?

Geek+’s cutting-edge goods-to-person picking system is the ultimate robotic solution for your warehouse or distribution center. Geek+’s awardwinning picking solution helps companies maximize order fulfillment capacity by augmenting throughput by 2x and improving picking e ciency by 3x. Our picking solution has equipped over 700 global customers – including Nike, Walmart, DHL, and Decathlon – with mobile robotics technology that maximizes warehouse productivity, picking accuracy, and speed of delivery. Visit our website to learn more about how we can help you overcome your supply chain challenges.

SHA Rotary Actuator with Integrated Servo Drive

The SHA-IDT Series is a family of compact actuators that deliver high torque with exceptional accuracy and repeatability. These hollow shaft servo actuators feature Harmonic Drive® precision strain wave gears combined with a brushless servomotor, a brake, two magnetic absolute encoders and an integrated servo drive with CANopen® communication. This revolutionary product eliminates the need for an external drive and greatly simplifies cabling yet delivers high-positional accuracy and torsional sti ness in a compact housing.

Robotics

IDS Imaging Development Systems Inc.

Anomalies? Detected!

The all-in-one system IDS NXT can now reliably detect unpredictable deviations. It is possible to use only “GOOD” training images. In addition, only a small amount of training data is required compared to other AI methods. This simplifies the development of an AI vision application and helps with evaluating the potential of AI-based image processing for new projects.

The AI vision system consists of intelligent industrial cameras plus software environment, which covers the entire process from creating to running AI vision applications. In addition to its user-friendly workflows and holistic design, expert tools enable open-platform programming, making IDS NXT cameras highly customisable and suitable for a wide range of applications.

Easily design a maintenance-free gantry robot system to your exact specifications for up to 40% less cost

Gantry robots have become a critical component for manufacturing and warehouse automation. igus® provides turnkey and custom gantry systems that are built with self-lubricating plastic liners which are engineered to slide instead of roll, allowing for smoother and quieter operation vs. traditional recirculating ball bearings.

Every gantry robot system that igus® o ers provides a lightweight, corrosion-resistant solution that is ideal for pick and place, sorting, labeling, measuring, inspection, and repetitive material handling applications.

Due to their modular nature, igus® gantry robots are easily customizable for any workspace, and free onsite consultation is available to ensure the perfect solution at the lowest possible cost.

maxon

Compact motors for Collaborative robots

maxon flat motors are especially suitable for installation in confined spaces. The brushless motors are designed as internal and external rotors and can reach speeds of up to 20,000 RPM. Available with hall sensors, sensorless or with integrated electronics. These motors can also be combined with gearheads and encoders.

• External, multi-pole rotor for high torques

• Open design for excellent heat dissipation at higher speeds

maxon is your single source for motion solutions. When you choose maxon, you can expect outstanding service, creative options and quality without question. Want to get your ideas moving? Contact maxon today.

Learn more about the maxon solutions and visit www.maxongroup.us

Easily Introduce Custom-built Robots to Existing Systems

The MRC01 robot controller supports easy programming and control of in-house designed custom built robots with 3 simple steps: “Initial Setup”, “Operating Programming” and “Operational Checking”.

Use the AZ Series family of products to support your inhouse design for improved performance and ease of use.

• Easily introduce custom-built robots to existing systems

• Direct control via EtherNet/IP™

• Easy setup even for beginners (no ladder logic)

• Experience the “MRC Studio” programming software (trial version) before purchase

• Use with AZ Series drivers: built-in controller type (AC/DC) or mini driver RS-485 communication type (24/48 VDC)

Robotics

Meet POSITAL’s New Generation of Incremental Encoders

A new generation of IXARC encoders is now available, with new sensor technology and upgraded processors for better performance and reduced energy consumption. These devices are programmable, making them easily adaptable to special user requirements. Resolution (pulses per turn) and communications interface characteristics can be customized to meet your application’s exact requirements. With a wide range of mounting and connectivity options available, these can be easily used as replacements for encoders from most major manufacturers.

More NeXtGen products are on the way, including upgraded absolute encoders and kit encoders.

Stay tuned!

Ruland Manufacturing

Zero-Backlash Couplings for Robotic Systems

Ruland Manufacturing o ers a variety of zero-backlash servo couplings designed for use in high precision applications like automation and robotics. Ruland o ers beam, bellows, disc, oldham, jaw, and newly-released Controlflex couplings in thousands of o -the-shelf combinations and sizes to help designers optimize their systems.

Robotic vision systems, material handling robots, and automated guided vehicles have infamously strict requirements that require engineers to balance torque, weight, dampening, and more, all while retaining extremely precise power transmission. Ruland servo couplings excel in demanding applications and can be selected based on a wide variety of performance characteristics.

Visit Ruland.com for access to everything you need to make a coupling design decision including: full technical product data, 3D CAD models, installation videos, and eCommerce to make prototyping easy.

Maximize Robot ROI with E cient

Re-Deployment

Robots are flexible and adaptable. Quickly re-tasking robots for job variety can be challenging.

Some common solutions: Changing workpieces – Quick-change gripper fingers and gripper changeouts are easily automated for workpiece variety or changing workpiece characteristics during manufacturing.

Flexible machine table fixtures – Robots are widely identified for their ability to handle workpieces. They also excel at automatically replacing fixtures and other peripheral tooling.

Automating multiple tasks – Use the robot to accomplish a secondary task. Instead of remaining idle during machining, the robot can automatically deburr workpieces.

Adjustable custom tooling – Use dove tails and adjustable mountings in EOATs to expand tools for changing conditions or reach requirements.

Many standard solutions are available - make the most of your investment with automation expert support today!

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Robotics

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design guide on Bluetooth & Connectivity

The demand for high data throughput, low power, and longer battery life is driving much of the breakthroughs and evolutions in connectivity technology.

In this Design Guide, we present the need-to-know basics, as well as the technology fine points aimed at helping you and your designs keep pace and stay competitive in the fast-changing world of connectivity.

DESIGN GUIDES

Key technology content produced by the editors of Design World compiled in individual design guides. Collect these free technical PDFs!

A GUIDE TO ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING: 10 ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS: BEST PRACTICES FOR SIZING, SELECTION, AND INSTALLATION

ENCODERS: COMPARING

INCREMENTAL AND ABSOLUTE ENCODERS — AND THEIR OUTPUT SIGNALS

POWER SUPPLIES IN INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

Find these and additional guides in our DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY, bookmark this site as guides are added on an ongoing basis! designworldonline.com/design-guide-library

Transforming thoughts on going digital

Digital phobia is a real phenomenon characterized by a discomfort or avoidance of technology and the digital era in general. More seriously known as technophobia or technofear, these digital-laden anxieties are more common than one might think.

Although the exact numbers are unknown, research suggests up to one-third of the general population is a ected, and between 45 to 60% of those aged 45 to 60 years.

Why should this matter? Because in the maturing fastener industry, there’s a decent chance this might be you or someone in your organization reluctant to share their insecurities.

In the workplace, digital fears might include angst about learning and incorporating new computer programs, automated systems, or more advanced processes that integrate artificial intelligence or the Internet-of-things (the network of connected devices that share data).

It’s also easy to rationalize such fears, neatly placing them under the umbrella of security or incompatibility concerns — after all, we’ve all heard horror stories about hacking and data breaches. And we’ve all likely experienced network delays or glitches with our smartphones or even the debit machines at our local grocery.

Truth be told, the biggest obstacle to safe and successful digital transformation is rarely the technology. It’s about supporting users to overcome their fear of change or reluctance to adopt new processes. This is worth considering when making a tech leap in the workplace because the bigger truth is that the digital era is only advancing.

As Paul Przyby of Optimas Solutions shares in the article on page 170, “Although there is something to be said for a legacy business, success is rarely granted to those who refuse to evolve. Optimizing routines and processes is particularly critical and easier in the digital era.”

So, how can you support your team or colleagues (and yourself) in this ever-expanding digital world? Unfortunately, no one solution will dissipate every worry, but there are a few steps to consider.

Acknowledge the fear. Expect it, speak it, and clarify that fear of uncertainty is normal. Learning anything new can be intimidating at first or there wouldn’t be a need to learn it. As Lonni Kie er of SmartCert says in the profile on page 178, “Change is hard.” But that’s OK.

Prepare for disruption. Adopting new technologies and processes will inevitably disrupt the status quo — that’s the point. Digital transformations typically aim to reorganize systems in a new, streamlined manner. That means parting with the old ways, even if it’s uncomfortable for a period.

Think process, not revolution. Terms such as digital revolution and the factory of the future can sound daunting. Ultimately, going digital should be about simplifying tasks…and getting there can be divided into small, attainable, and measurable goals.

Seek support and validation. Onboarding new software, automated systems, or new equipment should come with proper training and troubleshooting. Be patient and give yourself and others time to learn. Technology is a tool that, with the ideal features, should enhance and support a business and its employees. Use the digital revolution to your advantage. FE

Fastener Fair 2023 is headed to Music City USA

Michelle Froese • Editor

It’s been said that a bad day in Nashville is better than anywhere else. Soon you’ll have the opportunity to find out as Fastener Fair USA is headed to Music City, Tennessee, from May 16th to 17th.

“It’s our exhibitors who’ve suggested Nashville as a location to us for this event, so we’re listening, and we’re ready,” shares Bob Chiricosta, event director with RX Global, an international B2B trade exhibition organizer. “This year, Fastener Fair will be held at the Music City Center, the convention center downtown, just a block away from Broadway. It’s going to be an exciting show!”

Fastener Fair has been one of North America’s fastest-growing trade shows and conference events for the fastener industry. It’s currently the only local exhibition dedicated to the entire supply chain, which includes mechanical and design engineers, purchasers, wholesalers, distributors, and OEMs.

This year represents a couple of firsts for this American-based event: a new location and its largest show — ever.

“The event is shaping up to be the biggest one held in the U.S. to date,” he said. “This includes some of the largest booths we’ve ever offered, with more domestic and international companies exhibiting than ever before.”

Chiricosta expects well over 200 exhibitors, alongside a curated show floor with leading technical and strategic education sessions, and plenty of

Fastener Fair USA is headed to Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee, from May 16th to 17th, 2023. A few pre-show events — including the Fastener Training Institute’s Fastening 101 course — begin on May 15th. Visit fastenerfairusa.com to learn more and register.

networking opportunities.

“It’s going to be a full schedule. For those interested in attending early, it’ll be worth your while,” he added. “There’s a fastener training opportunity, a golf tournament, followed by a preshow get-together at a place called, Tequila Cowboy.”

Fastener Fair has always been about supporting organizations to “learn, discover, and connect.”

This begins on Monday, May 15th, as the Fastener Training Institute

presents Fastening 101, a one-day course covering fastener engineering basics, including product and design fundamentals. Attendees will learn about different market segments where threaded fasteners are used and their cost differences. The class also delves into fastener engineering, with information on torque, stress, tightening strategies, bolt strength, tension control, and several other elements.

For those interested in testing their swing, the Mid-West Fastener Association — one of the oldest

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connections outside of the office.”

This year, the Fastener Fair is partnering with the Fastener Industry Coalition (FIC), which includes 13 key fastener associations, to promote and participate in the Nashville show. FIC is an unincorporated association made up of regional and national fastener associations concerned with the distribution, manufacture, and importation of fasteners.

Show visitors can expect a comprehensive display of product innovations and demonstrations, technical sessions, and opportunities to connect with peers and industry experts.

fastener associations in the U.S. — in cooperation with the North Coast Fastener Association, will also host a golf tournament before the show.

Then, after the first day of the Fastener Fair on May 16th, get ready for its annual networking party — at the Country Music Hall of Fame. It’s home to the Hall of Fame Rotunda and worldclass exhibitions.

“You won’t want to miss this party,” said Chiricosta. “Expect food, an open bar, plenty of networking opportunities, plus live music. In fact, singer and songwriter Tommy O’Keeffe will play live for us.”

This year, Fastener Fair USA is partnering with the Fastener Industry Coalition (FIC) to promote and participate in the event. The FIC comprises regional and national fastener associations supporting the industry. Learn more at fastenercoalition.org.

Attendees might recognize him as Tim O’Keeffe’s son. Tim is the CEO of Huyett, an ISO 9001-certified manufacturer, master distributor, and importer of non-threaded fasteners.

“It’s interesting because we’ve learned that 45% of Fastener Fair USA attendees only go to our event. They don’t attend other shows, so it’s extremely important for us to prepare an event that’s educational, interactive, and fun. It’s not every day that everyone gets to travel or make in-person

“They’ll be presenting some of the talks and panel discussions that will take place,” he said. “We plan to have educational content focused on technology, supply chains, and sales. We also want to offer insight to those new to the industry, including young professionals. We’ll be announcing the conference line-up shortly.”

According to Chiricosta, Fastener Fair USA also brings in 36% of new firstyear attendees to the show each year. And so far, they’ve already received a large and favorable response to this year’s event.

“The companies and exhibitors we’ve talked to so far cannot wait for the show this year,” he said. “They want to be involved and connect with more people. Nashville is great for this because there’s so much nearby manufacturing in the

Kentucky and Tennessee areas. There are international auto plants, and manufacturing facilities for appliances, furniture, and other components toward the coast.”

You can check out the exhibitor list at tinyurl.com/FastenerFairExhibitors.

“Aside from being a fun location in the center of honky tonk bars and non-stop music, Nashville is a place of opportunities,” added Chiricosta. “We expect this year’s Fair will be a not-tobe-missed event.”

As for next year, Fastener Fair USA will be returning to Cleveland, OH.

“Ohio is somewhat of a hub for the fastener world in the United States,” he says. “Sometimes I’m surprised how many international companies have a branch in the state. So, we’ll

probably always return to Cleveland for certain years. But we’re hoping to add Nashville to the rotation, and we’re really looking forward to seeing those in the fastener industry there soon!” FE

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Digitalizing inventory: How automation can save time & money

Paul Przyby SVP, Sales and Marketing Optimas Solutions

Vendor-managed inventory (VMI), or inventory management, has been around since the ’80s when companies such as Walmart used it to revolutionize their supply chains. In the 30-plus years since then, inventory management has evolved to become more sophisticated and accessible, allowing companies of all sizes to benefit.

Conventional inventory management systems track when parts are ordered, delivered, stored, and replenished. With today’s tech advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) — which can work together to collect, manage, analyze, and learn from data — it’s possible to expect more from a program than just “managed parts.”

An optimized and automated end-to-end inventory management program will continually work to innovate and improve the entire supply chain management cycle.

Inventory management is a rapidly evolving solution that supports a streamlined supply chain. Advanced programs increase the visibility and forecasting of parts’ consumption, leading to cost savings and greater workflow and productivity.

Understanding inventory management

In simple terms, VMI employs a partner (think full-service distributor) to manage inventory. The resource develops a custom program to ensure the right parts go to the right places at the right times.

However, a modern inventory management program does more than manage parts. Ideally, it’s capable of:

• Understanding and adapting to changes in demand

• Ensuring quality requirements are always met

• Establishing and managing efficient delivery logistics

• Leveraging technology to automate replenishment

• Offering visibility into consumption patterns, inventory quantities, and locations

• Providing data to optimize quantity and delivery decisions

Such tech-enabled functionality streamlines supply chains, elevating productivity and profitability.

One study found that most companies devote 20 to 40% of their overall working capital to inventory alone. Hard and soft costs can be saved with an advanced inventory management program. Additionally, workflow and productivity can be redefined, and human resources reallocated from slow, repetitive, and errorprone work to higher-value (i.e., profitable) activities.

The key to such advanced features: going digital.

The digital revolution

It’s no secret that familiarity breeds comfort. Most of us stick to routines because it feels safe and secure. Although there is something to be said for a legacy business, success is rarely granted to those who refuse to evolve. Optimizing routines and process is particularly critical and easier in the digital era. Digitized inventory management is the next level of VMI. Such automated programs ensure accurate and current inventory numbers, meaning an organization is less vulnerable to errors from human calculations or multiple data sources.

Digital inventory management now o ers AI features that can forecast demand changes and adapt stock levels for more accurate supply chain planning of engineered fasteners and C-Class parts — ultimately leading to cost savings and a more secure supply chain.

Advanced inventory management allows organizations to lower on-hand inventory. This can lead to less waste, greater accuracy, and more strategic use of time and resources. Plus, on the ordering side, placing a single PO with one full-service distribution partner can reduce hidden soft costs that add up over many parts and many orders.

Modern conveniences

So, what does modern inventory management o er that makes it worth the switch? Here are just a few benefits of going digital…

• The ability to work smarter, not harder. Thanks to the analytic technology available today, it’s possible to capture and use data and modeling based on an organization’s real-time and historical consumption patterns. Quality forecasting uses a mix of quantitative (such as past numerical insights and current market demand) and qualitative data (market trends, product lifecycle, competitive landscape, etc.) to guide more accurate inventory management decisions.

Additionally, by integrating RFID technology to manually or automatically

Would your organization benefit from digital inventory management?

The first step is identifying core pain points a digitized system can help resolve. Here are the top five questions to ask to get started:

• On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the best), how accurate are your part counts?

• How long does it take to go from count to replenishment?

• Have stockouts occurred in the last 12 months?

• Has excess and obsolete inventory negatively impacted your company’s balance sheet in the last two to three years?

• Is your current supplier doing anything to support your inventory management process?

The answers to these questions can indicate the need for an inventory management solution.

Digitized inventory management is the next level of VMI. Such automated programs ensure accurate and current inventory numbers, meaning an organization is less vulnerable to errors from human calculations or multiple data sources.

A step-by-step representation of a digital end-to-end inventory management system.

submit replenishment orders, inventory can be monitored in real-time. (RFID or Radio Frequency Identification uses radio waves to identify a tagged object.) Data can be used to create more accurate forecasts about future demands. As a result, it’s easy to modify production plans and inventory levels. Plus, cash flow benefits from this level of accuracy.

• A supplier reduction, also known as vendor consolidation, moderates the number of suppliers within a specific supply market to save costs. Some experts suggest adding just 10 extra suppliers every five years is more than $1 million in additional soft costs. The parts make up only 15% of those costs, while the human resources required to select, manage, and process those suppliers is another 85%. A digital VMI program can make a big impact here.

• A refocused workforce typically leads to greater productivity overall. Thanks to an automated replenishment system, it takes less time, personnel, and processes to maintain accurate

inventory levels. These productivity gains drive soft cost reduction and offer an opportunity to reallocate team members to roles that ensure a greater impact on production.

Digitized inventory management can make supply chains more efficient and resilient to disruptions, offer higher visibility of parts’ consumption, improve forecasting, and support the reallocation of resources to ensure better productivity. It’s about spotting potential issues before they start. FE

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Lightweight heavyweights: How self-adhesive die cuts are leveraging the bond

Markus Loris Product Manager Schreiner ProTech | schreiner-protech.com

Self-adhesive die-cut parts are increasingly working alongside or replacing conventional mechanical fastening methods for affixing, sealing, or leveling certain assemblies. And for good reason: these ultra-sticky solutions are true “lightweight heavyweights,” providing manufacturers with exceptionally flexible design and processing possibilities.

However, there are several subsets within this genre of adhesives, which are important to understand before choosing the ideal fastening solution. Generally speaking, a distinction can be made between simple and complex laminates for die-cut parts, which can permanently or removably bond to a portion or all of a component’s surface.

• Simple laminates are ideal when the purpose is bonding. Typically, self-adhesive die-cut parts are used, consisting of two-sided tapes or transfer adhesives.

• Complex laminates, which often have multilayer structures, are the preferred choice when one component must perform several functions — such as any combination of bonding, height compensation, damping, temperature compensation, or dust protection.

Pressure-sensitive adhesives are particularly efficient because they require no drying time. For manufacturers, this means significantly shorter processing times and lower energy consumption.

The portfolio of available sizes and shapes of die-cut parts ranges from miniature formats, a few millimeters in size, to large dimensions with complex geometries.

The assembly and delivery forms are nearly as varied as the products they help assemble. For example, the packaging of die-cut and formed parts are commonly available on rolls, sheets, stacks, and as individual parts. The shape of the finished product is determined by a manufacturer’s distinct production process.

The so-called base liner is the carrier for self-adhesive products, but it can also perform additional functions. At the very

A fully automatic assembly machine at work for double-sided adhesive tapes.

Self-adhesive die cuts provide manufacturers in several sectors with a flexible, lightweight bonding solution that ensures durability.

The benefits of bonding

least, the base liner should include perforations to simplify the separation of the die-cut parts — an e cient and convenient alternative to bulk material.

“Locating holes” serve as positioning aids in the application process, and the poka-yoke principle (the practice of error-proofing) ensures an accurate fit and ideal positioning. In this step, it’s important to ensure double-sided adhesive products are covered on the top side for protection before use. Many cover liners are suitable for die-cut parts: endless cover liners are typically used in fully automatic assembling processes. The term “endless” is used because they have

An assembly machine in operation. The “endless” cover liner is removed before dispensing the double-sided adhesive tape.

no set boundaries, meaning they can cover the entirety of an object. Die-cut cover lines are used for manual or semiautomatic dispensing.

Advancing industries with adhesion

The automotive industry heavily relies on self-adhesives for fastening di erent components, protecting invehicle devices, and providing height compensation. For example, rain sensors are bonded to the inside of windshields by means of a UV-stable, double-sided adhesive die-cut part. Trim strips in the interior are attached by a foam die-cut part with a practical grip tab, which also compensates for height.

For in-vehicle sound systems, a double-sided adhesive die-cut part typically serves to fasten and protect sensitive components.

In addition, self-adhesive die-cut parts o er considerable ease and e ciency to automotive production lines as processing, assembly, and positioning aids. For instance, shaped die-cut variants use individual adhesive dots to help position and precisely

Adhesive joints are increasingly performing certain bonding duties, typically accomplished with screws. The decision to “glue, not screw” can provide benefits, depending on the application. These include:

• An ability to bond to a variety of substrates

• A reduced assembly weight

• An even distribution of stress on the load (while resisting vibration)

• Protection from corrosion

• Optimized e ciencies and reduced costs (compared to drilling or other bonding processes like soldering, crimping, or welding)

affix components as an assembly aid in the welding and soldering process. This selective bonding ensures that sufficient solder can later penetrate between components, joining them securely and permanently.

Adhesive applications are providing a key function in the manufacturing of electronics and Industry 4.0.

In advanced process and automation, intelligent RFID (radio frequency identification) data carriers are an essential building block. RFID transponders are typically attached to components and trays; however, this must be done with extreme care. Metal screws could adversely affect the readability of a tag’s chip. As a result, self-adhesive solutions have become the method of choice.

Application matters

There are several application techniques available for stamped and formed parts, depending on the assembly. For die-cut parts, it’s important to consider the processing, dispensing, and inspection methods.

In advanced production, automated production cells that employ robotics offer clear advantages here: robotic arms are quicker and more consistent than humans, resulting in more accurate and efficient production. However, users should always be mindful that manufacturing cells — robotically controlled or otherwise — should be modular in design (e.g., equipped with an exchangeable vacuum stamp). Only then are minimal adjustments necessary if, for example, new production variations are introduced that require additional processing steps.

Self-adhesive die-cut parts are no longer a simple alternative for minor joining challenges. These varied and versatile solutions provide significant support for the types of manufacturing efficiencies and line optimizations in a range of engineering environments. FE

How SmartCert is digitalizing

the fastener supply chain

Michelle Froese • Editor

Most would agree that paperwork is a necessary nuisance for any business, and the fastener industry is no di erent. Quality assurance means certifications and technical documentation are essential, particularly for critical parts in critical assemblies.

“In the fastener industry, there are several required documentation that varies from the supply chain for raw materials to OEM parts certifications and tracking reports,” shares Lonni Kie er, co-founder of SmartCert. “Paperwork is nothing new for this industry. But what’s been missing until now is a universal digital platform that streamlines this process.”

This is what SmartCert — a company developed by Kie er and her business partners in 2021 — delivers. The industry’s first, cloud-based, self-service platform that lets fastener buyers and sellers digitally manage and exchange required quality certs. It connects every company in a supply chain and automates inbound and outbound documentation, allowing for real-time updates.

“The platform creates greater e ciencies, traceability, and sustainability while removing the risk of missing paperwork,” she explains. “Though it’s definitely not where I thought my history in marketing would lead, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with working in and with the fastener industry.”

Kie er went to the University of Wisconsin for journalism, with an emphasis on advertising and PR. She gained experience working for advertising agencies and, prior to entrepreneurship, spent about halfa-dozen years working for the media company, Gannett.

“Gannett owns several small-city newspapers across the country,” she says. “My job there was primarily focused on digital advertising, where I helped companies analyze their customer base and make decisions on how to best spend their marketing dollars with di erent media to make the biggest impact.”

Although this might seem like a world apart from fasteners and document tracking, the skills Kie er gained continue to support her e orts today.

“The translation in skills for me relates to supporting customers in navigating the ideal path to success,” she shares. “My passion begins after someone says, ‘yes.’ Then, I get to help companies with onboarding and training to ensure they make the wisest decisions and expenditures for the best business outcomes. It’s so rewarding to experience the impact of those decisions.”

To use Kie er’s words, it boils down to “change management.” In this sense, SmartCert not only o ers an automated

solution for managing documents and creating supply-chain e ciencies, but it also supports companies with this digital transformation to ensure success. Given the advancing digital era, going paperless and embracing technology is quickly becoming a must for companies.

“Essentially, we’re competing with the status quo and the way things have been done for decades…and change is hard,” she shares. “I get to support companies in meeting their goals for e ciency and sustainability. Paper is expensive. There’s currently a job shortage. Digitalization done right saves a lot of manual steps.”

SmartCert launched at an ideal time, given the increase in online and remote

The SmartCert founders (from left to right): Lyndon Lattie, Lonni Kie er, and Paul Decker.

Fastening + Joining

work since the pandemic. It’s a web-based platform o ering built-in security and redundancy, with no servers to manage. Users can access documents via a mobile device or desktop computer and quickly connect with their supply chain. It can also be integrated into existing ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems.

“The workforce is a changing landscape,” says Kie er. “More people are working from home and others are nearing retirement. It’s important to o er the tools and technology that will attract someone out of college who is simply not going to be excited about paper. It’s just not their world.”

Perhaps somewhat ironically, SmartCert developed the way many start-ups do, with a pen and napkin. The initial idea was that of Kie er’s husband and business partner, Lyndon Lattie. He’s worked in the fastener industry for 20 years, on both the manufacturing and distributing sides of the business.

“What’s interesting is he worked at Century Fasteners, a distributor, before leaving to start SmartCert, which they fully supported and are now one of our customers,” says Kie er. “But over the years, he experienced first-hand the frustration of waiting on documents that

delayed parts and created bottlenecks. He dealt with this as a salesperson and saw how it repeatedly a ected supply chains — you’re always at the mercy of how manufacturers or vendors are sending in certs and the same goes with customers.”

When Lattie shared his idea with Kie er and his long-time friend and colleague, Paul Decker, both agreed it was brilliant. Decker, who has years of experience running industrial technology companies, joined SmarCert as a third founder.

“At first, I worked the sidelines, but once the beta went live, I joined fulltime to help onboard our customers and ensure their success in using the platform,” says Kie er. “And I love that we have smaller mom-and-pop shops, testing labs, as well as massive fastener corporations with multiple companies under their umbrella.”

SmarCert’s goal is to become the industry standard for the aerospace and fastener industries and to work with other critical supply chains. The company is already making headway in the automotive, electronics, and food sectors.

“Fasteners have become a quick favorite of mine though,” she says. “It’s such a unique and tight-knit community, yet so welcoming. We were recently at the Mid-West Fastener Show and despite a room full of competitors for many of these companies, everyone came together to support each other. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m proud of what we do and to be a part of it.”

Kie er adds: “We’re taking companies from paper to digital and helping automate processes. That’s a huge leap forward and an exciting one for the future of fasteners.” FE

“The workforce is a changing landscape,” says Kieffer. “More people are working from home and others are nearing retirement. It’s important to offer the tools and technology that will attract someone out of college who is simply not going to be excited about paper. It’s just not their world.”

SmartCert automates the transfer of required documentation between fastener companies, replacing the use of paper and related printing costs. This promotes sustainability and reduces lost paperwork.

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e history

of the world’s largest fastener distributor

As World War II slowly came to an end, Adolf Würth knew two things: he needed to support his family and he wanted to work independently. With a post-war focus on new construction and rebuilding, a wholesale business focused on fasteners made sense.

So, in the summer of 1945, Würth o cially set up his own business — Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, which became the parent company of today’s Würth Group — selling screws in Künzelsau, BadenWürttemberg (Germany). But this took some perseverance.

As one tribute from the Würth Group’s historical records points out: “It was not easy to procure goods in the occupation zones. It was hard to find rooms. Finally, a room could be found in an annex of Schlossmühle (castle mill) in Künzelsau: the globally operating Group saw the light of day in an area of just 170 square meters.”

Although today’s Würth Group is an example of a massive and successful global enterprise, it did not start this way. In fact, the first screws were transported with a borrowed ox cart.

Little did Adolf Würth know that this small room in the annex of a mill

Michelle Froese • Editor

Würth Industry North America’s U.S. headquarters is in Greenwood, Indiana. It opened in 2016.

would eventually load some 750 tons of ordered parts daily, just for customers in Germany. And he likely never could have imagined that the Würth Group would develop into the largest distributor of fasteners in the world, with more than 125,000 products distributed via more than 400 companies in more than 80 countries — all led by his son, Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth.

“We actually refer to Dr. Würth as the Professor,” shares Todd Aronson VP, Global and National Sales, Würth Industry North America. “And yes, he still works at the company and is turning 88 this year. He took over the family business at 19, after his father’s

unexpected passing.”

That was in 1954, when Dr. Würth took over with the support of his mother, Alma Würth, making the Würth Group a two-person company. By the early ’60s, he considered expanding, setting up the first subsidiary in the Netherlands in 1962. In 1969, Würth USA Inc. o cially launched in America, and the growth has not stopped since.

“It has truly been his life work,” says Aronson. “Dr. Würth turned a small, family-held company into a global enterprise with more than 83,000 employees. Just this past year, it made more than $20 billion in sales and more than $1.5 billion in profit.”

One part of this global growth includes Würth Industry North America (WINA), now a $1 billion division of the Würth Group. WINA provides customers with an extensive global reach and local knowledge from investments in its distribution centers across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.

WINA has four strategically aligned customer-centric market divisions: Industrial, MRO/Safety/Metalworking, Construction, and Specialty Markets. These divisional companies include Würth Industrial Division, Würth Construction Services, Würth MRO, Safety, & Metalworking, Marine Fasteners, and Würth Additive Group.

Dr. h. c. mult. Reinhold Würth, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Group’s Family Trusts. His daughter, Bettina Würth, is the current Chairwoman of the Advisory Board of the Würth Group.

“It has been the philosophy of Dr. Würth and the Group to acquire very successful companies, connecting their products and innovations with Würth’s resources and operations,” he explains. “And in the mid90s, Würth Industry North America was launched, representing the first acquisitions in the industrial and OEM markets in the U.S.”

These acquisitions began with Würth Revcar Fasteners in Roanoke, Virginia, a full-service assembly component supplier and an approved Level One fastener distributor to many U.S. Navy and military accounts globally.

“It continued with a succession of acquisitions, including Würth Service Supply, Würth Adams Nut & Bolt, Würth McAllen Bolt & Screw, and several others throughout the years,” adds Aronson. These companies are in several states, including Indiana, Minnesota, and Texas. “And today, WINA covers the entire North American market, including Mexico and Canada.”

With more than 420,000 parts in its international supply chain, WINA works as an industry solutions provider to nearly any industry you can name, including construction, agriculture, energy, MRO and industrial supplies, and the list goes on. Along with fasteners, WINA also o ers

kitting and assembly, safety supplies, vending, as well as engineering assistance, quality control, inventory management, and industrial 3D printing.

“What makes us di erent in today’s world is security. Given the recent supply-chain issues related to the pandemic and current events…well, this is where we excel. Safety and security are the hallmarks of WINA and, of course, the Würth Group overall,” says Aronson. “Through our inventorymanagement programs, technical expertise, and buying power, we’re able to o er reliability. At the end of the day, it’s about securing the supply chain for our customers, and that’s what we do.”

WINA’s success can be attributed to experience and the Würth value system, which has always represented reliability, predictability, and honesty. One of the principles upon which it was built is that a company with “a strong set of values does not have to fear change.” Instead, it learns from economic and market challenges and turns that knowledge into solutions

Here’s one example: “Back in ’07and ’08, when the financial crisis hit, several OEMs faced similar challenges as they do today,” says Aronson. “In response, we developed CPS GLOBAL, a software solution that proactively monitors a customer’s activity. Combined with our VMI programs, CPS enables transparency and analysis of customer usage trends, including forecasting, so we can get ahead of any potential supply-chain changes or challenges.”

VMI is a vendor-managed inventory platform allowing a supplier to manage and optimize inventory for its customers. This program lets the team at WINA analyze customer usage at the individual component level on both a local and an international basis.

“We’ve heard from customers that many feel taken for granted. There hasn’t been a lot of proactive support, so we

With more than 420,000 parts in its international supply chain, WINA works as an industry solutions provider to nearly any industry you can name, including construction, agriculture, energy, MRO and industrial supplies, and the list goes on.

Würth Construction Services, a Würth Industry North America company, o ers structural fasteners, PPE and MRO supplies, and more for the construction and structural steel industries. Its Greensboro, North Carolina facility manufactures custom anchor bolts.

strive to offer pre-emptive measures that can insulate our customers from market changes or delays. Again, it comes down to security,” he says.

The Würth global network certainly has its perks. For one, there are Würth international parts numbers, enabling the quick and easy identification of fasteners and assembly components from around the world. Secondly, it has a team of supplier quality engineers continually auditing and verifying its processes to ensure reliable products and supply chains.

“WINA is extremely customercentric…and, innovative. Würth has always encouraged bringing forth new ideas that could benefit or grow our capabilities.” Aronson adds that the company fosters ideas and strategies that, ultimately, generate greater simplicity and success for its team and customers. One such idea is the Würth Fastener Academy.

“This is a training program that we use to support our customers and the industry, in general, which explains and teaches about all aspects of fasteners — from design and manufacturing to assembly and coatings, including several other technical aspects.”

WINA also launched a YouTube series in 2021, Würth Knowing, which the Fastener Academy inspired. It features two of Würth’s team members: Technical instructor, Randy Lammers, and applications engineer, Aaron Keevan. The duo meets in Lammers’ Texas workshop to discuss and demo

many different topics related to fastener engineering.

“The first season, produced by our director of marketing, Molly Hauer, was based on the topics we routinely get asked by engineers and our customers. It’s quite insightful and fun to watch.”

Another example of an idea that was so successful it turned into its own WINA division is the launch of the Würth Additive Group.

“This started a couple of years ago because one of our managing directors was interested in 3D printing, which he was encouraged to explore. It’s since turned into its own WINA division and is used by our global customers,” says Aronson.

Essentially, additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, adds material layer-by-layer to manufacture three-dimensional products without using tools. It allows changes to a virtual model to be quickly transferred to the physical prototype. Manufacturing a prototype is typically time-consuming

Würth

and more costly. 3D printing saves on both. Additive manufacturing is also ideal for those parts with complex geometry, such as a uniquely shaped nut or washer.

“Another bonus is the digital inventory capabilities it provides. So, instead of needing to keep an extra part or repair tool on hand, customers can access a digital blueprint and use their in-house machine to print it whenever required,” he says. “We’re really the first movers of this technology as a fastener distributor.”

And that’s one thing the Würth Group, including its divisions such as WINA, has truly mastered. The Group shows no reluctance when it comes to being the first mover in the industry to take a chance, acquire, try new technology, or grow and expand.

“There’s such an entrepreneurial spirit here. When we have an idea, we’re encouraged to see it through. When my team needs the resources to support a customer, it’s provided,” says Aronson. “Würth is heavily invested in its team and our customers, and the feedback and results we get in return prove its success time and time again.” FE

Additive Group, a Würth Industry North America company, was incorporated in 2021 and offers industrial 3D printing products and services. Its growing team is pictured here.

Industrial 3D printing services offer a streamlined and efficient method to reduce the development times of certain parts and simplify supply chains.

Selecting the Optimal Washer

Flat: Generally used for load disbursement

Tab/Lock: Designed to effectively lock an assembly into place

Finishing: Often found on consumer products

Wave: For obtaining loads when the load is static or the working range is small

Belleville: Delivers the highest load capacity of all the spring washers

Fender: Distributes a load evenly across a large surface area

Shim Stacks: Ideal for simple AND complex applications

NBK Suggests and Supplies Solutions with Specialty Screws

NBK’s history and craftsmanship date back to 1560 when the company first began. Our predecessors were proud to offer their advanced knowledge, state-of-the-art technology and using this today, we have developed various products.

One of NBK’s strengths in the high-tech sector is our Specialty Screws such as vacuum application screws, anti-galling screws, specialty metal screws such as Inconel and Hastelloy, and more.

Furthermore, NBK deals with unique functional screws like low-profile screws, small head diameter screws, captive screws, miniature screws (less than M2), ball transfer screws, ball plungers, clamping screws, and more. We are proud to support our customer’s projects with NBK’s Specialty Screws and their unlimited matching applications. We also offer customized screws!

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Pivot Point, Inc.

The SLIC Pin™ from Pivot Point is a pin and cotter all-in-one. An excellent alternative to installing e-clips and secondary cotters, the patented SLIC Pin features a spring-loaded plunger which acts as an automatic cotter pin. SLIC installs faster and more consistently than two-piece combinations – increasing productivity, cutting labor costs, and reducing risk of mis-installation and accidental disengagement. Simply depress the plunger with your finger or a tool in order to remove the pin. Use our “removable” style plunger if removing through small gaps. SLIC Pins can be made in virtually any material and finish. Millions of SLIC Pins are installed every year across all industries. Contact Pivot Point for free samples and information.

Fastener Engineering

This area has long been one of the most read and sought after by our engineering audience! From screws to bolts and adhesives to springs, these critical but often overlooked components are the key to every successful design.

FastenerEngineering.com will serve readers in the mechanical design engineering space, providing news, product developments, application stories, technical how-to articles, and analysis of engineering trends. This site will focus on key issues facing the engineering markets around fastener technology, along with technical background on selected components.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Special print section in select issues of Design World

• Fastener Engineering monthly newsletter LEARN

Miles Budimir | Senior Editor

It’s no surprise that large swaths of the medical industry uses motion control components. These uses range from lab equipment such as sample processing to common devices inside of hospitals including beds and diagnostic equipment like X-ray and CAT scan machines and MRIs. By some estimates, the entire medical equipment and device market in the U.S. alone is valued at almost $200 billion.

Common components include di erent types of motors and sensors along with drives and controllers, but also more specific components for linear motion such as actuators and single-axis lifting mechanisms, as well as bearings designed specifically for medical-grade applications. Here’s a look at some of the newest available motion components and how they are used in a range of medical applications.

A bevy of new motion control components are tailor-made for medical equipment applications.

Bringing modularity to small-space applications

A family of compact linear systems from Thomson Industries makes it easier for motion designers to implement complex applications in small spaces. This is especially true for designers needing thrust and bearing support in a single, compact unit.

“As demand for smaller-scale applications grows, so does the challenge of packing high functionality into a smaller footprint,” said Matt Palmer, Product Line Specialist – Linear Motion Systems for Thomson. “Our new family of compact

Modular lifting column platforms from Ewellix were developed specifically for medical applications. In particular, they’re designed for use with patient tables, ceiling stands and wall/floor units in X-ray suites and other medical imaging uses.

linear motion systems equips designers to meet those challenges by assembling Thomson linear motion components, with the added option of real-time collaboration with one of our engineers.”

In building a compact linear system, a designer can configure a unit or combination of units from a wide variety of components based on their specific application details. Components include, but are not limited to, integrated stepper motors, lead screws, profile rail linear guides, 60 Case LinearRace shafting, linear ball bushing bearings,

New plastic materials like xiros MT180 from igus are designed specifically for medical applications. It’s certified according to the strictest biocompatibility standards, such as USP Class VI and DIN EN ISO 10993.

and end blocks. Plus, many features can be customized, including screw diameters and leads, mounting holes, and mounting configurations.

Thomson also o ers a new 3D modeling tool that optimizes the solution by revealing design tradeo s in real time. The tool, in collaboration with a Thomson engineer, guides the designer in tailoring motor size, stroke length, and other variables to function most e ectively within given load and space parameters.

The resulting designs go directly to the Thomson product CAD system, where the information is used to produce the prototype sent for testing. Because of such close user involvement during the design process, the number of design iterations is reduced, which in turn decreases the likelihood of mistakes being made.

These compact linear systems are appropriate for applications requiring high-accuracy linear axes in confined spaces, such as 3D printers, microscope stage managers, and medical pipetting systems, among others. They’re available with NEMA motor sizes between 14 and 23, stroke lengths of up to 40 in. (1,000 mm), and load capacities up to 2,091 lb (9,300 N).

moving machine parts along a single axis is an integral part of the machine’s function.

Aiming specifically at these types of applications, Ewellix has developed a package of modular lifting column platforms developed specifically for medical applications. In particular, they’re designed for use with patient tables, ceiling stands and wall/floor units in X-ray suites and other medical imaging uses.

The new products include lifting columns and sophisticated control units based on the company’s SmartX digital technology. The focus is on creating products that are robust, smooth, low noise and ergonomic for healthcare professionals, while being modular and engineered to the highest quality to simplify the design and assembly process by medical device OEMs.

Lifting

columns

for medical imaging

One of the most common motion functions in medical devices is movement along a single axis. Whether that be a patient bed or sample tray in a lab or even scanning devices such as X-ray machines,

Compact linear systems from Thomson are available with NEMA motor sizes between 14 and 23, stroke lengths of up to 40 in. (1,000 mm), and load capacities up to 2,091 lbs (9,300 N).

One of the challenges for X-ray departments is positioning relatively heavy X-ray tube heads or detector systems, which are often mounted on overhead or wall/floor frames. Each head or detector system can typically weigh up to 50 kg, yet has to be moved easily and precisely to target the

appropriate area of the patient’s body. Ewellix’s solution is based on its patented ‘E ortless Technology’. This eliminates the traditional approach where counterweights are used to balance the head of the detector. Instead, the system incorporates an intelligent 5-stage lifting column fitted with servo motors and a force sensing unit. Controlled as part of the SmartX digital platform, this modular construction allows the X-ray head or detector to be moved at speed - up to 2 m in a few seconds with the lightest touch from an operator. The speed and strength of force applied by the user is automatically detected by the force sensing unit and then converted into a linear motion under precise control from the SmartX software.

The lifting column can move at speeds of up 600 mm/sec, yet provides smooth and silent operation. Digital communication in combination with the SmartX controller enables precise synchronized motion of the X-ray tube and the detector. The synchronized motion can be controlled automatically by the X-ray suite control system or by user input on the force sensing unit of the X-ray tube or the detector.

Use of individual force sensing units and position detection sensors for each lifting column and the SmartX digital controller constantly cross-reference the sensor outputs, ensuring that the movement of the X-ray tube and detector is precisely and safely regulated.

Also included in the new package for medical applications is the smart TLT series of lifting columns equipped with an integrated SmartX controller and absolute position encoder. These are robust, fast and powerful, being fitted with two dc motors that are capable of providing a lifting force of up to 5,000 N. The TLT series also has a low, torsion-resistant profile and compact design that minimizes the overall dimensions of each unit, at both maximum and minimum extension. The design and construction of each TLT unit lets them be used for heavy and o -center loads. With the built-in smart controller, the TLT lifting columns provide a digital communication interface and

M Series AC LVDTs from NewTek consist of a coil assembly potted into a 3/8 in. diameter housing with a separate moveable core. They feature measurement ranges from ± 0.025 to ± 2 in. with an extended temperature range of -65 to 400 °F.

advanced position and speed control. Precise synchronized motion, soft start and stop and safety features like antipinching detection makes it a perfect lifting column for X-ray patient tables.

The complement of the new medical devices is made up of high-performance modular profile-rail LLT guides. These precision devices provide smooth, load-bearing guides for use with, for example, adjusting the X-ray tabletop in the X- and Y-axis. There are a wide choice of sizes, lengths and rail and carriage options.

Tiny medical sensors with large measurement range

Embedded within medical devices, linear position sensors play a critical role in the safe and accurate performance of healthcare equipment used in patient care. New linear position sensors from NewTek are small and accurate, feature a large measurement range, and resistance to environmental e ects, making them suitable for medical devices, especially those frequently sanitized in autoclaves that use pressurized steam or another gas to perform sterilization.

The NewTek medical sensors can

withstand the e ects of autoclave cycles used to sterilize medical equipment prior to surgical procedures or other medical uses. According to the Centers for Disease Control, steam sterilization, as accomplished in an autoclave, is the most widely used and dependable method of sanitizing critical medical equipment as a part of infection control.

For example, the NewTek M-375 Series Miniature AC LVDTs serve as components within medical devices because they’re highly resistant to harsh and high-pressure environments and o er a compact 3/8 in. diameter size to fit tight space restrictions. With a corrosion-resistant, nickel-iron alloy housing and core, these sensors can operate in temperature extremes of -65 °F to +400 °F. NewTek also provides customized LVDTs tailored to withstand repeated autoclave cycles depending on the customer’s sanitizing requirements.

In one medical device application, NewTek LVDTs serve as a component for a bone drill, delivering feedback on the depth of drilling to tenths of a millimeter so surgeons can accurately determine the depth of their drill bit during orthopedic surgery. The sensors are hermetically sealed to withstand exposure to 220°F pressurized steam of an autoclave that sanitizes the instrument.

Ball bearing material for medical technology

The industrial automation giant igus has expanded its range of high-performance plastics for medical technology. New to the company’s product range is xiros MT180, a material for light, hygienic, dryrunning deep groove ball bearings. The new material is certified according to the strictest biocompatibility standards, such as USP Class VI and DIN EN ISO 10993, saving medical technology manufacturers time and money for product approval.

In medical and pharmaceutical technology, machine and plant engineers are increasingly replacing

Motion control components are used throughout the medical industry. These uses range from lab equipment such as sample processing to common devices inside of hospitals including beds and diagnostic equipment like X-ray and CAT scan machines and MRIs.

metal components with counterparts made of high-performance plastic. The advantage is that igus xiros series ball bearings operate without lubrication and are maintenance-free while remaining low-friction and hygienic. A common di culty is that not all plastics are suitable for all medical-technology applications. So far, manufacturers have often had to plan time and costs for new assembly certification.

“We invest lots of energy in research and development. That way, we bring materials to the market that are certified according to the strictest standards in the world – materials that medical-technology manufacturers can use without hesitation,” says Marcus Semsroth, Head of Business Unit xiros Polymer Ball Bearings at igus.

The new ball bearings made of xiros MT180 are suitable for applications in medical technology, such as bio-reactors, which cultivate microorganisms in a nutrient medium. These reactors were vital in producing RNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ball bearings can be used, for example, in the agitator. They are classified according to USP 88 Class VI. The USP (United States Pharmacopeia) is an independent organization that sets quality, purity, and strength standards for medicines, food ingredients, and other products sold in the United States. This classification assures that the igus ball bearings do not pose the risk of contamination.

“In this class, the material is approved even for contact with the blood stream. It could, therefore, be used in medical implants. The material also complies with DIN EN ISO 10993 for medical products.”

The single-row xiros deep groove ball bearings made of high-performance plastic belong to the rolling bearings family. They consist of four components: an inner and outer race, a cage, and the load balls. Cage and races are injectionmolded from xiros MT180. The balls can be made of stainless steel or glass as desired. The bearings are entirely non-magnetic and electrically insulating

when glass balls are used. This makes them suitable for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This method uses a pulsating magnetic field in accordance with USP 88 to make the inside of the body visible layer by layer. Since the magnetic field is many thousands of times stronger than the earth’s magnetic field, conventional metal rolling bearings cannot be used.

Ball bearings made of xiros MT180 are not only resistant to corrosion and dirt, but also up to 50% lighter and more durable. That makes them suitable not only for bio-reactors and MRIs but also for prostheses and orthoses, X-ray robots, laboratory equipment, and hospital beds. DW

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Piezos for delicate actuation

Piezo-based technologies are indispensable for micrometer and nanometer strokes.

Lisa Eitel • Executive editor

Piezo elements are ceramics that change shape when subject to electricity or (when subject to mechanical loading) output electricity. Manufacturers process and press plumbum, zirconate, titanate (PZT) powder together and fire it into a quartz. Then they integrate the ceramic with ferroelectric material to make electrodes. Finally, manufacturers apply electromagnetic fields to the piezo elements to align and polarize the material.

Discovered by Pierre and Jacques Curie in the late 1800s, piezo elements are named for the Greek word for press — piezein. The Curies found that compressing crystals of potassium sodium tartrate (also called Rochelle salt after the place of its original formulation) create electric voltage … and that electrifying piezo crystal makes it deform. Today, other piezo crystals immune to humidity are used in engineered systems … but the shape-changing capacity is what all piezo technologies use today.

Types of piezomotors

Piezo elements are at the core of myriad transducers and sensors, and those piezo-based components are perhaps the best known by engineers. Yet piezo-element solid-state piezomotors abound to move loads over short distances. The most basic piezomotors generate motion by expanding proportionally to voltage. Stacked, shear, and tube piezomotors are three common options here. The former generate high forces but only to 20 µm or so. The latter (common in medical and dispensing applications) can move several millimeters but with less force.

Slightly more complex are flexure-guided piezomotors with motion amplifiers for long and straight moves. Motion is proportional to the drive voltage; multi-axis stages move up items a couple millimeters or more.

Ultrasonic-friction piezomotors have oscillating plates that act as the stator to advance a slide or rotor via friction. These output unlimited motion quickly, sometimes within 0.8 msec from the input command — though resolution is only 60 nm or so.

A common application for ultrasonic piezomotors is the autofocus mechanism found in cellphone cameras.

| Dreamstime

Multi-axis surface-roughness metrology equipment

Electricity excites a piezoceramic plate (that acts as the motor stator) through electrodes. That induces oscillations at the material’s natural frequency at some number of kilohertz. The plate has a friction pusher that takes it along an inclined path at the eigen frequency. With each oscillatory cycle, the motor advances. Two main benefi ts of ultrasonic piezoelectric motors is that:

1) They are e cient substitutes for miniature electric-motor spindles

2) They make moves with resolution to 50 nm.

Note that some sources call ultrasonic piezomotors standing-wave piezomotors for the way in which they output motion. The only catch with ultrasonic piezomotors is that their reliance on friction to advance a slide or rotor essentially limits resolution to about 38 nm.

For stepping piezomotors, manufacturers gang multiple piezo elements together to get actuator setups that can move more than 100 lb. The motors make longer strokes than most other options, and they do it quickly … within 0.8 msec in some cases. Piezo stepping motors can also get picometer resolution under direct piezo actuation under what’s called dithering.

Advancing controls can deliver increasingly stringent performance from piezo-flexure stages that output high-bandwidth actuation over multiple degrees of freedom. These drive advanced microscopies that burst the Rayleigh limit; semiconductor lithography that tracks Moore’s Law down to the atomic scale; silicon photonics manufacturing; and genomics analyzers.

Basics of ultrasonic piezomotors

As mentioned, in ultrasonic piezoelectric motors, the ceramic material vibrates over a few nanometers at a time to output linear or rotary motion to 550 mm/sec.

Basics of stepper piezomotors

The leading piezo-motor option for longer strokes are steppers. These have an array of individual piezo elements that perform a sequence of expansions and contractions. Each cycle only moves the attached load a few micrometers … but at an average of 500 to 3,000 Hertz, the steps let the motor deliver speeds to 12 mm/sec. Useful for scanning applications, stepper piezomotors can also withstand external magnetic fields. Rotary step piezomotors cycle frame-a xed crystals through states. One crystal set locks the rotor while a second set moves to advance a third. Controls then release the first crystal set and retract the third. Then both locking sets return to home.

In contrast, linear step piezomotors cycle frame-a xed crystal sets through locked and motive settings. Usually, one set is moving while the other two lock. That advances an output stage plate even to 1,100 mm/sec.

Deeper dive on linear ultrasonic piezomotors

Ultrasonic piezomotors create useful rotary or linear motion by exciting a piezo element to produce highfrequency oscillations. In linear ultrasonic piezomotors, the piezo element is a piezoelectric plate. Applying voltage excites the plate at its resonance frequency and creates

Linear ultrasonic piezomotors are most common in metrology and scanning equipment. Because they’re vacuumcompatible and contain no magnetic components, they’re well-suited for use in military and aerospace applications such as guidance systems and antenna positioning.

eigenmode oscillations – meaning all parts of the plate move sinusoidally at the same frequency. The piezoelectric plate is preloaded against a runner (also called a slider) via a coupling, or pusher. Oscillations in the plate cause it to expand and contract, moving the coupling along an inclined patch. The coupling in turn contacts the runner and causes it to linearly move.

Ultrasonic piezomotors are sometimes called standing wave piezomotors due to the type of wave generated when the piezoelectric material is excited. A standing wave is formed when an incident (original) wave and a reflected wave interfere in such a way that there are points along the medium that appear to be standing still … hence the name standing wave

Although linear ultrasonic piezomotors are capable of unlimited travel, the length of the runner determines the actual stroke, with maximum travel capabilities of 100 to 150 mm. Linear ultrasonic designs have low inertia with fast response times and can achieve velocities up to 1 m/sec and accelerations of 10 to 20 g. On the other hand, they’re also capable of ultra-slow motion, down to just a few nanometers per second. Because they rely on friction between the coupling and the runner, resolution is somewhat limited (relative to other piezomotor designs) to between 50 and 80 nm. But this friction allows ultrasonic piezomotors to be selfclamping in a power-o condition … capable of producing 2 to 3 N of holding force sans heat generation.

Linear ultrasonic piezomotors are most common in metrology and scanning equipment. Because they’re vacuum-compatible and contain no magnetic components, they’re well-suited for use in military and aerospace applications, such as guidance systems and antenna positioning. Medical imaging devices often incorporate linear ultrasonic piezomotors for fine positioning of imaging equipment.

Ultrasonic piezomotor performance characteristics

Ultrasonic piezomotors are directdrive mechanisms, meaning they have no mechanical couplings or gears to induce backlash. However, their reliance on friction between the stator and the rotor (or between the pusher and the slider, in the case of a linear motor), limits their resolution to 50 to 80 nm. This friction does o er an advantage, though — in the form of a holding force when no power is applied.

The working principle of ultrasonic piezomotors, coupled with their low inertia, give them very fast response times, with maximum velocities up to 500 mm/sec (600 to 800°/sec for rotary motion) and accelerations of 10 to 20 g. Ultrasonic piezomotors are inherently vacuum compatible … and because there are no magnetic components, they can be used in environments with strong magnetic fields.

Ultrasonic piezomotor applications

The most common application for ultrasonic piezomotors is the autofocus mechanism found in cameras, but high-precision imaging and scanning equipment of all kinds, including surveying and metrology devices, benefi t from their speed and resolution. Other applications include military and aerospace equipment — especially the positioning of antennae or fine control of guidance systems. In the medical industry, ultrasonic piezomotors are used in life sciences equipment for nanoliter pumps, dispensing, and dosing, and in medical devices for control and positioning of imaging equipment.

How piezo-based actuators are classified

Piezo actuators harness the behavior of piezo materials to provide short motion strokes with high frequency and fast response times. They also generate high forces relative to their small size, giving them a significant power-to-size ratio.

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Note: Because of their conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy, piezo devices are often referred to as motors, but the term actuators is used interchangeably.

The piezoelectric e ect produces motion that is parallel to the electrical field. Some actuators, however, operate on the transverse piezoelectric e ect, in which motion occurs orthogonally to the electrical field. There are four main types of piezo actuators, distinguished by the arrangement of their piezo elements and by the type of movement they generate.

Longitudinal piezo actuators: Also called piezo stacks, longitudinal piezo actuators are created by layering multiple piezo elements on top of each other, thus combining the e ect of each element’s expansion to produce a useful movement and force. These actuators use the piezoelectric e ect to generate linear displacements from 0.1 to 0.15% of the actuator length. They have a high force density ... typically in the range of 30 N/mm2 or so — resulting in useful force in the thousands of Newtons.

Longitudinal piezo actuators also have high resonant frequencies, which makes them wellsuited for dynamic applications.

Shear piezo actuators

These are like longitudinal versions in that they consist of multiple layers of piezo elements. However, voltage is applied di erently ... and the type of motion created is also unique. For shear piezo actuators, elements are horizontally polarized and the electrical field is applied orthogonally. Resulting displacement occurs in the horizontal plane, creating a shear-type motion.

The height of shear actuators is limited by shear stresses and bending, but they are often combined with longitudinal actuators in multiaxis systems.

This is how the linear version of an ultrasonic piezomotor works. The stator plate changes shape to roll a pusher and advance a stage.

ANOTHER PUSH-ACTION PIEZO STEPMOTOR

Drive pads (orange) on the piezo elements advance the rail.

The drive pads release the rail and let the piezo elements return to the start position.

The cycle resumes.

SILICON OXYGEN

PIEZO CRYSTAL SHAPE CHANGE

Notice how the orange and purple waves interfere to form the standing (black) wave.

ULTRASONIC PIEZOMOTOR OPERATION

STANDING WAVE WITH LARGEST AMPLITUDE

PERMANENT-MAGNET LINEAR MOTOR XY STAGE

Piezo-based end effector stage performs final fine-tune nanopositioning.

Miniature linear bearing

Piezo excitation electrodes

Bearing-carriage friction face ACTIVE

Shown here are different types of piezo-based motors and actuator arrangements.

Tube piezo actuators

Tube actuators have radial polarization and use the transverse piezoelectric e ect to create displacement. These actuators can experience axial, radial, or lateral (bending) motion depending on how the voltage is applied relative to the electrodes. Piezo tube actuators are not suitable for producing forces, but they provide micron-level travel for scanning microscopes and nanoliter dosing and pumping applications.

Contracting piezo actuators

Flat actuators with two piezo elements can produce contracting (or expanding) motion when both elements act together. These actuators use the transverse piezoelectric e ect and typically produce motion in just one direction. Contracting and expanding piezo actuators have small displacements (to 20 mm) but can generate hundreds of Newtons of force.

When a contracting actuator is mounted to a base or substrate, a bending actuator is created. In a bending actuator, the applied voltage causes one piezo element to expand while the other contracts. The result is a bending motion with relatively large displacement (typically several millimeters) but low force generation.

When specifying a piezo actuator, two parameters are usually considered — free deflection Xf and blocking force Fb. Free deflection is the movement achieved when the maximum allowable voltage is applied, and no force is generated.

Similarly, blocking force is the maximum force that can be generated when the maximum allowable voltage is applied … and the actuator is not allowed to move. A piezo actuator is optimized for the application when it provides the required force at one-half its free deflection.

Piezo actuators can often replace solenoids in valves, pumps, and dispensing equipment. Plus, they can withstand extreme environments such as the high vacuums found in semiconductor processing equipment and the strong magnetic fields found in MRI machines and aerospace components. Complete piezo stages can be created by incorporating piezo actuators with cross roller bearings or miniature guides, and these stages can be stacked to provide X-Y or X-Y-Z motion.

The most interest in piezomotordriven miniature actuators is for applications subject to space and power limitations — and exacting precision requirements. After all, piezomotors are smaller and more e cient than traditional copperwinding-based miniature motors … and piezomotor actuators can very stably hold position sans continuous power input or a mechanical brake. The small actuator size allows for the construction of very small positioning stages as well. DW

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Center

distance variations influence noise in compound gearboxes

Although gearboxes are a well-understood technology, they don’t always operate as designed. For example, many di erent manufacturing and assembly factors — vibrations from the gears, and various running conditions — can produce noise and transmission errors. These errors typically occur because the gears cannot operate at a standard centered distance within their predetermined tolerances. To provide a framework for creating a more optimal gearbox design, we recently simulated how center distance variation

influences

By Subhash Jadhave (Application Engineer) and Pradeep Deshmane (Principal Engineer) Portescap

noise.

Simulation Methodology

Our simulation uses a compound gearbox with three spur gear pairs mounted on respective shafts that are supported by ball bearings connected to the housing. The simulation illustrates the center distance variation by displacing the housing bore connected to bearings. This, in turn, results in shaft misalignments, which were captured as TE and noise amplitude. The gearbox setup is shown in Figure 1.

Here’s how we performed the simulation: Because the housing bore position can vary during manufacturing, we defined three conditions:

1. A tolerance of 30, 60, and 80 microns as the displacement.

2. The bearings, which are manifested in shaft misalignment.

3. TE and noise.

Figure 1. Gearbox layout and gearbox cut section.

In addition, we defined and analyzed:

1. No load condition.

2. Load condition — 0.5-Nm torque.

We considered an input shaft speed range of 0 to 5,200 rpm and analyzed the first, second, and third harmonics of the gear mesh covering the maximum frequency of 4,000 Hz. The study revealed that the third gear mesh exhibits a higher TE than the other two gear meshes. The remainder of this article will focus on the third gear mesh pair in the layout and explain the significance of TE harmonics and its impact on acoustic behavior.

Misalignment Considerations and Center Distance Variation

There are two ways to consider the misalignment of the shaft: out of parallel, where the output gear is displaced in the skew direction from the mating gear; and skew condition, where the output gear is displaced in the skew direction from the mating gear. In this simulation, the skew position is selected because the noise levels are more sensitive than those of the

out-of-parallel condition. For reference, Figure 2 shows the out-of-parallel shaft arrangement.

When the 30-, 60-, and 80-micron radial displacement was applied for the outer race of the rear bearing and for the front bearing, the shaft was displaced away from the original shaft position in the gearbox in an outward direction in the skew plane. In the skew condition, the bearings are displaced in the -X and +Y directions along the resultant vector with the output gear displaced in the skew direction from the mating gear. In the out-of-parallel condition, the bearings are displaced in the +X and +Y directions along the resultant vector, with the output gear displaced away from the mating gear.

Shaft misalignment is a critical factor in demonstrating the importance of how the change in center distance impacts the TE and noise. Accordingly, displacements of bearings supporting shafts are used in the simulation.

Misalignment Variation Simulation Results

The front and rear bearings were displaced in the X and Y directions, and the shaft misalignment in skew position was used. The no-load condition has lower TE when the front bearing is displaced in the X and Y directions versus the rear bearing. We allowed displacement tolerances of 30, 60, and 80 microns. When we analyzed the skew positions, the peak-to-peak TE for X-80 and Y+80 microns was higher than the skew positions of X-30, Y+30 microns, and X-60, Y+60 microns. The simulation results are provided in Table 1.

The TE results are provided in Table 2 for a load condition with 0.5-Nm torque. The TE results for the displacement of the front bearing are higher than those of the rear bearing.

Because the shrink-wrap mesh affects the quality of the radiated noise predictions, it had to be in excellent condition.

Figure 2. Shaft misalignment is skew condition and out-ofparallel condition.

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Table 1. TE results for no-load condition.

Acoustic Analysis

Table 2. TE results for load condition

As part of the acoustic analysis, we used a shrink-wrap mesh to link the structural vibration domain and the acoustic domain. The mesh is watertight, and it completely and closely encloses the structural mesh of the component being analyzed. Because the shrink-wrap mesh a ects the quality of the radiated noise predictions, it had to be in excellent condition.

We placed a response node on the surface of the gearbox housing. The noise at the surface location and the vibrations at this node are captured by a microphone located 1 meter from the gearbox surface. The higher TE of the third gear pair with misalignment is factored into the simulation.

Figure 4. No misalignment, with a maximum noise value of 38 dBa.

Figure 5.1. Rear bearing with skew x-30, y+30 microns, and maximum noise value of 50 dBa.

Figure 6. Rear bearing with skew x-60, y+60 microns, and maximum noise value of +50 dBa.

Figure 7. Rear bearing with skew x-80, y+80 microns and maximum noise value of +52 dBa.

Mechanical

The acoustic results cover the first to third harmonic of the third gear pair, which corresponds to excitations of the first order as 2.3, the second order as 4.6, and the third order as 6.9 at various motor shaft speeds (rpm) frequencies (Hz) and sound pressure levels. The violet lines represent the response frequency (Hz) respective to the orders.

Here is what we observed for the rear bearing under different conditions:

● No misalignment, with a maximum noise value of 38 dBA. Normal conditions.

● With a skew of X-30, Y+30 microns, and a maximum noise value of 50 dBA: As compared to nominal conditions, the displaced condition resulted in higher deflection in the shaft and the housing due to higher TE and noise levels. The maximum noise amplitude was observed at 3,200 rpm.

● With a skew of X-60, Y+60 microns, and a noise value of +50 dBA: Similar results were found at 60 microns as were found at 30 microns, which includes no load and no misalignment where there are nominal conditions.

● With a skew of X-80, Y+80 microns and a noise value of +52 dBA: Similar results were found at 80 microns and at 30 and 60 microns.

● The displacement applied for bearings and the impact of shaft deflections on noise are provided in Figures 6 and 7.

System Level Deflection

The acoustic analysis demonstrates that shaft misalignment can influence noise predictions; some frequencies and a particular speed range may have yielded higher noise levels. Similarly, system-level static deflection — based on the boundary condition — is also a reliable indicator of the overall system

deflection, especially when defined torque is applied to the system. Systemlevel static deflection also gives specific findings about the localized deflection of the system based on how the gearbox is mounted in the device. This helps to check the maximum level of deflections the system has at maximum load and whether any improvements are needed to control deflections, such as by altering the mountings on the gearbox, material combinations, or the application’s load conditions. For example, Figure 8 shows the deflection in the gearbox at the system level when 0.5-Nm torque is applied with a displacement of x-30 and y+30 microns for the rear bearing. The maximum deflection is approximately 68 micons, which is somewhat high. Increasing the sti ness in this area may help reduce the deflection. DW

Portescap

www.portescap.com

Figure 8 - System Level Deflection for Skew Position of Brg-6 (X-30, Y+30).

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By Mark Jones

Tuna, but no Thimbleberries

The tuna was perfectly prepared, lightly seared, perfectly seasoned. It was a meal fit for a seaside bistro, but I wasn’t oceanside. I was in Ironwood, Mich. Delicious as the meal was, it was no locavore meal.

We had stopped in Ironwood, a town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, looking for thimbleberry jam. Thimbleberries, Rubus parviflorus, are in the raspberry family, with fruit made up of individual drupelets just like a raspberry. They ripen to a true red color, tasting both sweet and tart. The ripe fruit is incredibly delicate and spoils quickly. I’ve never seen them for sale as picked fruit and can’t find any reference to commercial cultivation. Thimbleberries are foraged. Thimbleberry jam is a specialty item, rarely found outside the UP.

Our stop in Ironwood failed to yield thimbleberry jam. Hungry, we decided to grab lunch. Ironwood is more than 900 miles from the closest Atlantic port, more than 1,500 miles from the Seattle fish market. Ironwood isn’t the pole of inaccessibility, but it is close. Ironwood is far from any tuna port, and yet seared tuna was on the menu.

The concept of food-miles is frequently related to sustainability. It is not at all uncommon to see bragging about local food being the more sustainable option. I’ve been indoctrinated to believe the farther food travels, the less sustainable it is. I entered Ironwood looking for a hyper-locavore product. Pangs of guilt about tuna consumption so far from the ocean hit me as I left Ironwood.

Tuna in Ironwood is a technical marvel. Likely, the tuna arrived in Ironwood frozen and sealed in plastic. It was likely prepped, placed in a multilayer, vacuum-sealed package, and super-frozen, cooled to -60° C soon after it was caught. It was kept cold and in the controlled atmosphere made

possible by the plastic for its trip to Ironwood. Super-freezing can preserve the fish almost indefinitely. No need for air transportation — a slow boat or truck will do just fine provided the temperature is maintained.

My guilt over tuna in Ironwood sent me looking for the CO2 footprint of tuna the lunch choices. The October 24, 2022 issue of Nature contained the data I was looking for. My guilt was unwarranted. Tuna in Ironwood is lower GHG than any of the other animal proteins appearing on the menu. Better than a burger. Better than a turkey sandwich. My assumptions that the long supply chain, the excessive food miles, and the energy required to maintain refrigeration would give tuna a high GHG footprint were wrong. Tuna are wild-caught. The fuel consumption in chasing and harvesting them is a large part of the GHG footprint, but small compared to the emissions associated with agricultural production of meat.

Tuna in Ironwood taught me a few things. Local is not always better for the environment. Local consumption provides other benefits, but lower GHG emissions isn’t assured. Foodmiles aren’t a great indicator. Tuna in Ironwood taught me making more sustainable choices is not instinctive. More sustainable, even for someone well versed in sustainability, is hard. It requires thought and study. Data are readily available — if you’re willing to take the time. DW

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