A recent article from IEEE Spectrum explored a communication barrier between humans and artificial intelligence. People have a way of understanding meaning even if the words we use don’t explicitly communicate what we mean. This raises the question of whether or not robots should be able to read between the lines or infer meaning when… Read more »
There’s a little bit of irony in reporting triumphantly on low levels of unemployment while we’re oil the midst of a multi-year labor shortage. But the United States has the lowest unemployment rate in more than half a century. How can we fail to celebrate? Manufacturing in particular added roughly 19,000 jobs so far this… Read more »
Valentine’s Day is coming up, a fact that you’re well aware of if you’ve happened to step foot in a store or check up on your social media over the past few weeks. Hearts have been pasted on our smartphone screens in the form of advertisements, and they’ve taken over the shelves in shops and… Read more »
People often look to third party repair shops thinking that they can save a few bucks. There’s this idea that a machine is a machine, and you can get the same repair from a third party at a fraction of the cost the manufacturer charges. In reality, you shouldn’t trust major Indramat repairs to a… Read more »
Exoskeletons are not a new idea. The Ironhand from Bioservo is a good, practical example of how an exoskeleton can work in real life. It helps to protect human workers against repetitive motion injuries as well as musculoskeletal injuries from overuse. It won the NASA Commercial Invention of the Year Award in 2020. By… Read more »
One of the advantages of automation is that it is predictable. Robots perform the same actions repeatedly in the same way. The result is — or should be — error-free consistent results. But we have all seen robots doing things that weren’t what the humans planned. Recently, a TikTok video showed a robot waiter at… Read more »
It’s difficult to repair broken servo motors or drives if you don’t know what you’re doing. Servo repair can be difficult even if you do know what you’re doing, for that matter. Fixing servo motors or servo drives requires special knowledge, skill, and expertise. Do it wrong, and you could end up causing other problems… Read more »
There’s an old joke about the factory of the future. Such a factory, according to the joke, will have just two workers: a man and a dog. The man’s job is to feed the dog. The dog’s job is to bite the man if he tries to touch the machinery. This would be an extreme… Read more »
Indramat, now owned by Bosch Rexroth, produced a range of servo motors, drives, and electronic control modules that enabled precise motion control and synchronization of multiple axes in a variety of applications, such as CNC machining, robotic arms, and automated assembly lines. These devices were so high in quality and robust that they are still… Read more »
You can buy pretty much anything online if you dig deep enough. Looking for a discontinued colorway or a rare collector’s item? There’s undoubtedly some warehouse or garage that has what you’re looking for – tucked away and forgotten – and the owner will certainly be willing to part with it for the right price…. Read more »