Category Archives: Encoders – Miniature

Motion Control – Application – Maxon Motors in Surgical Robots for Minimally Invasive Procedures!

Motion Control – Motors for Surgical Robots!

Motion control – The latest, next generation surgeries are being performed today using Intuitive Surgical Inc.’s (Sunnyvale, CA) da Vinci™S HD Surgical System, which allows surgeons to perform the most minimally invasive procedures to date. The system incorporates the height of motion control technologies so that every motion provides the smooth, accurate movements reminiscent of a skilled surgeon – even at slow, calculated speeds.

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motion control - maxon logo

 

Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – The surgical system itself requires only the use of two 8- and one 12-mm wide hole in a patient, for insertion of the two surgical manipulators and a camera. Only the robot and surgical assistants stand over the patient, while the surgeon, the system operator, can be across the room at the Surgeon’s console where even the look and feel of the open surgery is duplicated with precision.

Motion Control – New LDL Programmable Linear Actuator from SMAC

Motion Control – A Great Place to Work!

motion control - smac linear actuatorsCost-competitive Alternative to Pneumatics, Starting at $300 US/ea

Motion Control – Vaughan, Ontario, Canada – The New LDL Programmable Electric Linear Actuator from SMAC has been designed as a cost-competitive alternative to pneumatics.  A common trend in industrial automation is that users are looking for electric alternatives to their pneumatic components for a number of reasons: increased control, improved cycle life, and reduced operating cost.

The LDL series actuator features several innovative cost reduction elements that result in a list price starting at $300 US/ea. 

Motion Control – The world’s lightest electric mountain bike features maxon BIKEDRIVE AIR

Motion Control – Application – Mountain Bike

With the new Lightrider E Ultimate, Swiss bicycle manufacturer Thömus is launching the world’s first full-suspension cross-country electric mountain bike weighing less than 15 kilograms. This record-breaking weight is made possible by the small and efficient maxon BIKEDRIVE AIR drive in the extremely lightweight Thömus ultra-high modulus carbon frame.

motion control - lightest mountain bike

Taunton, MA — Motion Control – The partnership between Thömus and drive specialist maxon that began in the winter of 2021 is delivering results not only in World Cup racing. Behind the scenes, a lot of work has been done on a new, ultra-lightweight electric mountain bike in recent months, which, together with the maxon BIKEDRIVE AIR drive, heralds a new era for electric mountain bikes.

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Weighing less than 15 kilograms in total and with a slim, rigid frame, the Lightrider E Ultimate is a real racing bike that can be maneuvered easily and agilely over any terrain.

Motion Control- Application – Underwater inspection on twelve wheels.

Motion Control – Application – Underwater Inspection

Motion Control – Application – Inspecting flooded pipes of power plants requires skilled, high-precision handling. And the robotic vehicles have to be optimized accordingly, for example to dive 20 m deep. The new seawater manipulator is capable of maneuvering underwater in pipes, where it can be used to perform inspections. RE motors by maxon are responsible for the dynamic drive of the robot.

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Taunton, MA — Motion Control Application – In robotics, manipulators are those devices that enable physical interaction with their surroundings. For this interaction, the robotic vehicles are equipped with appropriate tools, gripper systems or measuring devices. In the case of the seawater manipulator, this equipment largely consists of high-performance cameras used for pipe inspection. Ibass, from Augsburg in Germany, develops, manufactures and distributes manipulators for various in-pipe applications: inspection, grinding, welding, retrieval or suction.

Motion Control – New Rod-style electric actuator from Tolomatic designed to meet hygienic standards available from Electromate!

Motion Control – Rod-style Electric Actuator!

motion control - linear actuators


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Vaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Products — A new RSH electric hygienic rod-style actuator from Tolomatic delivers clean, continuous control to automation machinery. RSH actuators are designed to help improve repeatability, enhance quality, reduce contamination potential and increase flexibility of hygienic machine designs, particularly for the food, beverage, medical, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.

Innovative Motion Control – Mars helicopter receives Collier Trophy

Innovative Motion Control – Mars Helicopter!

Innovative Motion Control – The Mars helicopter team is awarded the Collier Trophy for being the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flies with electric motors from the Swiss company maxon, a provider of precision drives. This prestigious award was presented on June 9th in Washington DC by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA)

innovative motion control - collier award

The Swiss specialist for quality drives maxon is a developer and manufacturer of brushed and brushless DC motors, as well as gearheads, encoders, controllers, and entire mechatronic systems. maxon drives are used wherever the requirements are particularly high: in NASA’s Mars rovers, in surgical power tools, in humanoid robots, and in precision industrial applications, for example. To maintain its leadership in this demanding market, the company invests extensively in research and development. Worldwide, maxon has 3,059 employees at nine production sites and is represented by sales companies in more than 30 countries.


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Taunton, MA — Innovative Motion Control – Application – Sachseln, Switzerland – NASA’s Mars helicopter is the first controlled aircraft in history to be used on a planet other than Earth, laying the way for future airborne exploratory missions to other planets. The pioneer project has been developed by a team of engineers, including from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), AeroVironment and maxon.

Motion Control – Application – maxon drives are used in the rover and in the first Mars helicopter

Motion Control – Application – Maxon Goes to Mars!

 

motion control - mars helicopter and rover


motion control - maxon motors

The Helicopter is Still Flying …

… 28 Trips and Counting!

Taunton, MA — Motion Control – Application – DC motors from maxon have been used in virtually all successful robot missions on Mars. More than 100 of these drives from Switzerland are already on the Red Planet and the number will go up again when the Perseverance rover starts its work. Its mission is to collect soil samples on Mars that will be analyzed on Earth later. The rover also carried the Ingenuity helicopter drone, which will be performing the first flights on the Red Planet. maxon’s precision motors and gearheads are used in numerous mission-critical tasks.

Motion Control – maxon launches light and invisible e-bike system!

Motion Control – Light and Lnvisible e-bike system!

Motion Control – First, maxon’s drives flew on Mars in the NASA helicopter – now they’re letting bike riders lift off.

motion control - invisible electric bike system


motion control - maxon motors

 

 

Taunton, MA — Motion Control – After several years of development, the company presents the BIKEDRIVE Air – a light and invisible e-bike system consisting of a mid-mounted motor, integrated battery, and control element. It can be used to build extremely lightweight racing, gravel, urban, and mountain bikes. The first bicycles made by maxon customers will be introduced to the market this year.

Motion Control – Maxon Introduces a New Series of ECX Flat BLDC Motors for a Wide Range of Robotics Applications!

Motion Control – Flat BLDC Motors for Robotics Applications!

motion control - flat bldc motors


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Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products –

High-torque External-rotor Motors

Maxon presents another innovation in the area of BLDC motors: the ECX flat product family. These external-rotor motors can be configured online and are optimized for maximum performance thanks to the special winding technology, as well as segmented magnets. The ratio of torque to weight and size is second to none and is ideal for use in UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle) and robotics applications.

Motion Control – Maxon Is Providing Its e-bike Platform and Joining the Thömus Cross-country Team!

Motion Control – Maxon Application!

motion control - maxon application

In 2022, Olympic silver medalist Mathias Flückiger rides for the Thömus-maxon cross-country racing team.


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Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – Swiss bicycle manufacturer Thömus and drive specialist maxon are entering into a partnership in cross-country cycling. As part of this cooperation, maxon is providing its e-bike platform to Thömus as the basis for an electric mountain bike for World Cup training. They also plan to make this bike available to the retail trade in the future.

Motion Control – Mecademic Robotics releases new firmware for its Meca500 robot, available from Electromate!

Motion Control – Mecademic Robotics releases new firmware!

motion control - electromate robotics


motion control - electromate roboticsVaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Products — Mecademic is pleased to release firmware version 8.4 for its
Meca500 industrial robotic arm. Mecademic’s firmware releases are provided free of charge, along with complimentary technical support.

Features & benefits

Joint 6 multi-rotation with cartesian moves

Although rotating Joint 6 beyond the ±180° has always been possible with the Meca500 R3, it was limited to Joint-move-commands. With this new firmware, both point-to-point and linear commands can now be used outside of this limit. Apart from the benefit of no longer being limited in Cartesian space and requiring switching to Joint commands, new applications are now easier to implement directly with the Meca500.

Motion Control – Planetary Robotic Gearbox Available from Electromate!

Motion Control – Planetary Gearbox for Robotics

motion control - planetary gearbox
Patented design guarantees that backlash will not increase over the life time of the gearbox

motion control - electromate roboticsVaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Components — The GPL-V (shaft) and GPL-H (hollow) are our lowest backlash (≤ 0.1 arc minute ) planetary gearboxes for horizontal and vertical robotic applications. A patented design guarantees that the backlash will not increase over the life time of the gearbox. Very high tilting rigidity results in excellent positioning accuracy with a rated 20,000 hours which is over 3x longer than comparable gearboxes in the market.

The noise level of 65dB compared to 69dB of comparable models makes it ideal for MRI applications where low noise levels are critical.

The efficiency is over 90% compared to 70 – 80% of other models allowing for lower power consumption which could result in choosing a smaller motor.

Motion Control Application – Maxon Flat Motors Helps in Keeping Muscles in Shape!

Motion Control -Application – Flat Motors

Motion Control – For paraplegic people, rehabilitation is frequently a long process; this is why methods and tech-nology that optimize these measures for the patient are so important. At the Bern University of Applied Sciences, many years of research has led to the development of a recumbent trike with electrical stimulation. The patient’s movements are supported by a maxon flat motor.

motion control maxon application


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Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – Cycling with a recumbent trike can partially restore lost motor functions of patients with spinal cord lesions. Furthermore, it provides the patients with a very practical and successful basis for cardiopulmonary and muscular training units. The paralyzed leg muscles are reactivated by means of functional electric stimulation (FES) combined with controlled training.

Motion Control – Integrated Spindle Drive Motor with Absolute Multi-Turn Encoder from JVL is available from Electromate!

Motion Control – Integrated Spindle Drive Motor

motion control - integrated motors


motion control - electromate robotics

 

 

Vaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Products — JVL A/S, one of the world’s leading producers in the field of integrated servo and stepper motors, is announcing a new addition to its ServoStep™ motors, a directly mountable motor for driving spindles. It’s perfect for replacing hand wheels in format change applications.

All-in-one unit

ServoStep™ has everything built-in including motor, encoder, drive electronics, control electronics with ePLC™ and optional Ethernet or CAN bus integrated into one compact unit.

Motion Control – maxon launches light and invisible e-bike system!

Motion Control – Light and Lnvisible e-bike system!

First, maxon’s drives flew on Mars in the NASA helicopter – now they’re letting bike riders lift off.

motion control - invisible electric bike system


motion control - maxon motors

 

 

Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – After several years of development, the company presents the BIKEDRIVE Air – a light and invisible e-bike system consisting of a mid-mounted motor, integrated battery, and control element. It can be used to build extremely lightweight racing, gravel, urban, and mountain bikes. The first bicycles made by maxon customers will be introduced to the market this year.

Motion Control – The World’s Most Precise Six-axis Robot by Mecademic!

Motion Control –  Six-axis Robot!

motion control - robot


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Vaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Components — Mecademic is a Canadian robotics manufacturer that builds the world’s smallest, most precise, and easy-to-use industrial robotic arm, the Meca500. The Meca500 robot excels in the precise and repetitive manipulation of small parts and tools in a variety of industries.

The six-axis robot can handle payloads up to 500 g with an unmatched accuracy of 0.005 mm (5 µm).

Motion Control – Maxon Expands its range of configurable drives!

Motion Control – Miniature Configurable Drives!

Maxon is once again expanding its range of configurable drives with more brushless DC motors, gearheads, and encoders from the ECX series.


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Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – The ECX series is growing with the addition of the maxon ECX Speed 4. This tiny powerhouse with a diameter of only 4 millimeters is designed for use in medical technology. The brushless DC motors are available in 2 versions: M (medium) and L (long) and can reach speeds of up to 50,000 rpm. They can be combined with the new GPX 4 C gearheads, which are available as two, three, or four-stage versions. With the GPX planetary gearheads, the pressure angle of the toothing has been optimized to achieve longer uptimes.

Motion Control – ADVANCED Motion Controls 60Amp Micro-Sized FlexPro Servo Drives are available from Electromate!

Motion Control – Micro-Sized Servo Drives!

motion control - micro servo drive


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Vaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Components — ADVANCED Motion Controls has released 7 new micro-sized FlexPro servo drives rated to output 60A continuous. The 60A continuous current rating is 33% higher than previous models for the same size making these our highest power-density servo drives to date. This offering includes PCB Mount, Machine Embedded, and Development Board-factors.

Motion Control – POSITAL Kit Encoders certified for compliance with BiSS interface standards are available from Electromate!

Motion Control – Kit Encoders Meet BiSS interface standards

motion control - kit encoders


motion control - electromate logoHamilton, New Jersey, August 2021 – POSITAL has received certificates of compliance for its family of kit encoders that feature BiSS C interfaces. These encoders are designed to be installed in motors or drives, providing the control system with position feedback to over single- or multi-turn operating ranges. “We have been enthusiastic supporters of open source, non-proprietary communications standards like BiSS,” comments Jörg Paulus, head of POSITAL’s European operations and a board member of the BiSS Association. “We are confident that by supporting the BiSS initiative and offering customers products that have been certified to comply with BiSS protocol standards, we will encourage further use of this versatile and cost-effective interface technology.”

Motion Control – Maxon introduces a multi-axis controller for highly dynamic positioning tasks!

Motion Control – Miniature Multi-axis Controller

Maxon is launching the next generation of Motion Controllers with its MiniMACS6-AMP-4/50/10. The controller is ideal for use in applications where PLC solutions may be too expensive or cannot meet customer-specific requirements.

motion control - miniature controller

Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – Maxon’s new multi-axis controller, the MiniMACS6-AMP-4/50/10, offers precise and highly dynamic control of up to six brushed DC motors or four brushless DC motors (up to 540 W continuous output power and 1.6 kW peak output power).

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The controller is an economical and compact solution for system designers who develop autonomous robots or shuttle systems

A significant advantage of the new multi-axis solution is that it is programmable with the comprehensive ApossIDE automation software and the license-free Motion Control Library (written in C). Integrated bus interfaces enable efficient data exchange with higher-level controllers; however, it is also possible to run complete process sequences autonomously, without a PLC or PC. The MiniMACS6-AMP-4/50/10 will be available in early 2021.