Nadine Oliynyk is an Applications Engineering co-op student at Electromate Inc and second year Mechatronics Engineering student at the University of Waterloo. In this article, she describes her experience programming the Meca500 industrial robot arm and setting up the dedicated EtherCAT Master Controller Kit and EtherNet IP/Profinet Kit available at Electromate.
Considerable investments are made with respect to industrial gear units so one expects excellent system availability and productivity. It is not always possible to predict downtime and be able to prevent unscheduled maintenance. What if there was a way to get a clear view ahead, achieve proactive maintenance, and avoid costly breakdowns and even preventative maintenance? What if this solution was possible for not only new industrial gear units, but existing ones as well? DriveRadar® from SEW-EURODRIVE is that solution and more.
Augmenta made headlines recently with an announcement that they have raised US $4.1 million in seed funding to automate building design for the construction industry. Their platform, the Augmenta Construction Platform (ACP), enables contractors and engineers to design fully detailed, code-complaint and constructible designs in hours rather than weeks or months. Mechatronics Canada had an opportunity to speak with Francesco Iorio, CEO and co-founder of Augmenta.
Well-made protective packaging is key to ensuring that foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables arrive on supermarket and grocery shelves in peak condition. Keeping pace with demand means that this packaging needs to be produced as quickly as possible without compromising either quality or strength. Orora Fresh Packaging Solutions is achieving this at its Canada HQ using an ABB robot cell to help assemble, load, and lift its protective cardboard packaging products for the fresh food industry.
The Endress+Hauser Canada’s Partners in Process Hybrid Event 2022 was a big success. For the first time, customers were able to experience the new Customer Experience Centre in Burlington, Ontario. In early June, customers from the Food & Beverage and Life Sciences industries were welcomed into the Centre by Endress+Hauser staff, both in person and virtually. Mechatronics Canada had the opportunity to join them for this occasion and see firsthand what it was all about.
For semiconductor fabricators, there is a critical need to protect the cleanroom environment from fires, as well as from the associated contamination from smoke particulate that can cause catastrophic product and process equipment damage.
Robots and automated guided vehicle systems are taking on increasingly complex tasks and ensuring high availability and productivity, at least in theory. However, disruptions often occur in the process. Solutions are provided by intelligent, hybrid and, above all, holistic systems based on sensors from different technologies. Read more to learn about a wide variety of safety and localization solutions used in intralogistics transport processes.
Together, shipping, receiving, and storage count for less than half of all warehouse activity costs. The lion’ share of expenses – a whopping 55% – is bound up in order picking. Breaking down the various activities associated with order picking, Omron finds that over 60% of time is spent walking, with writing, searching, and picking tasks comprising the other 40%. Omron’s Logistics Strategic Account Manager Yaqing Sun recently discussed some strategies for using autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for this purpose at Automate 2022 in June.
Derating is a protective measure which allows the use of power supplies at high temperatures, at high altitudes or in alternative mounting orientations. Most power supply manufacturers specify ratings for lifetime, output current, and reliability (e.g. MTBF) for their products. However, this information only applies under certain environmental conditions. In this blog article you will learn what you should consider when it comes to derating.
The production of tires and the production of wafers seem to have absolutely nothing to do with each other. In terms of automation technology, however, they use the same technology: Controlled Pneumatics. That is why Festo has further developed compressed air technology to make pneumatics sustainable, resource-saving and energy-efficient.
As machines become more connected, the need to service equipment remotely is escalating. Production is often running 24/7 and manufacturers expect immediate action from machine specialists. Not having a remote solution creates challenges like high travel costs, whereas some remote solutions cause a loss of data control and increase vulnerability. Omron’s secure remote access IoT gateway is one of the most advanced, turnkey solutions you will find on the market today, and it addresses multiple weak spots in competing solutions Omron looks at some of the concerns that this technology can help.
Ask a Bishop-Wisecarver Engineer: How do I protect my linear guide wheel bearings? Alex’s Answer: The environment always determines the type of guide wheel bearing protection you should choose so let’s discuss the 4 main options: Sealed, Shielded, Seald and Shielded, and Special COnfiguration. In this blog article, he examines each in turn.
POSITAL has compiled some expert troubleshooting tips to get your encoder back up and running. Check out their instructional Encoder troubleshooting video!
The introduction to SEW Eurodrive’s Innovation Lab was a big success. With Ontario reopening earlier this year, SEW Eurodrive has been excited to present their technology and automation solutions with customers, students, and the public again. Konrad Kurylo, P. Eng., was on site with other SEW Eurodrive experts to welcome an enthusiastic and engaged audience, who were eager to see what products and solutions SEW Eurodrive has to offer for Industry 4.0.
Corks are so light they float, but when shipped in bulk to wineries around the world, they tend to be big space-takers. In order to save energy and CO₂ emissions during transport, Portugal’s ESI (Engenharia, Soluções e Inovação) has developed a system for packaging corks that reduces packaging volume by 30% and dispenses with plastic bagging.
If a product is scratched by a robot but nobody was there to see it, how do you know what exactly happened? Intermittent problems in manufacturing lines (such as die casting) can cause millions of lost $$$ when repair workers are forced to troubleshoot without any idea of what may have caused the problem or when the problem will occur again. Omron’s Factory Drive Recorder addresses this issue by letting you monitor machines or areas within your facility and capture what happened just after or prior to a triggering event. Whether your application involves progressive die casting, machine tooling, bottle inspection, high-precision welding, or something else, this solution can save troubleshooting time