On July 7, 2003, the NASA twin robot Opportunity embarked on its journey to the Red Planet from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Today, 15 years later, it is still sending life signs back to Earth – despite a heavy sand storm.

With embedded technology and a particularly large field of view, a new 3D sensor from ISRA VISION offers short scanning times and fast data availability, making it ideal for use directly on the production line.

Yamaichi Electronics now also offers the Y-Circ P series with overmoulded bent relief. This prevents unwanted unscrewing of the connector without the need for gluing.

Feel starfish sucking on your hand - large aquariums as in the Ostsee-Info-Center (OIC (Baltic Sea Information Centre)), in various zoos or at the "Sealife" locations delight visitors of all ages. The aquariums provide exciting insights into the ecosystems of diverse underwater worlds.

It used to be the case that space was beyond reach to all but the richest governments and a handful of private enterprises. Today, opportunities in space look very different. Commercial space activities have taken off, driven in large part by greater functionality in smaller packages. With faster time-to-market, better size, weight, and power features at lower price points, and lower launch costs, new business models and significant venture funding are finding their way to commercial space...

For the first time, Weidmüller presents its Pick-to-Light and Put-to-Light solutions for picking and assembly tasks in industry and intralogistics.

Cognex VisionPro ViDi enables deep learning-based machine vision for automatic identification, inspection and classification.

Kontron announces the KBox B-201, a high performance, compact design computer, as a new member of the Kontron Embedded Box PC family. State-of-the-art 7th Gen Intel® CoreTM processors together with an Intel® Q170 Express Chipset allow for extremely high performance at a low noise level (34 dB(A) max.).

The configurable XMS500 series of AC-DC power supplies from TDK Corporation offer both Class I and Class II (double insulated) construction. All models are compliant to curve B radiated and conducted EMI, with more than 6 dB margin, yet maintain a leakage current of less than 150 µA.

It started with a blank. But how does the workpiece get onto the line or into the machine? Depending on the state it is delivered in, this task can quickly become very complex. Reliable 3D object detection systems optically capture and evaluate data. Liebherr works with a variety of 3D vision systems to match the requirements and smoothly handles the supply of every haphazardly stored part with process precision.

RFID systems with various frequency ranges are finding increasing use in modern production and assembly plants. Each system is designed for different applications. Low-frequency (LF) systems are suited mainly for applications in metallic surroundings. High-frequency (HF) systems are the ideal choice where a greater read/write distance and high speed are paramount. Since each system until now required its own RFID controller type, this was not only cumbersome...

At PCIM, the trade fair for power electronics, intelligent drive technology, renewable energy and energy management, Dynetics presented an extensive range of fans, blowers and stepper motors from Nidec Servo.

Whether building a new aircraft or designing new capabilities into industrial and medical control systems, choosing the right system software and hardware architectures is crucial for the success of the program. The aerospace and defense industry and the embedded community continue to shift towards adopting the latest hardware to solve challenging performance problems that address a variety of workloads.

Gear unit manufacturer Flender will be launching its new DX500 product with associated DX Assist app at the Achema show in Frankfurt am Main. The new smart sensor in the Diagnostex product series enables the planning of predictive service work before unscheduled interruptions or stoppages of the production process can occur and so increases system availability.

Siemens will be exhibiting at the automatica 2018 with an array of integrated and user-oriented Digital Enterprise solutions designed to sharpen the competitive edge of both end users and machine builders. Exhibiting under the banner “Digital Enterprise – Implement now!”, Siemens will be focusing on ways in which industrial enterprises of all sizes can benefit from the digital transformation – along the entire value chain from product design and...

"Never touch a running system" is widely used in the automation environment. To make the production network more secure in spite of missing updates, the experts recommend the systematic isolation of individual network segments – for example with the use of the mbNETFIX industrial firewall.

Hardware-based storage of certificates and encryption improve the security of the industrial router mbNET significantly

The verification of barcodes helps ensuring the readability of the barcode throughout the complete supply chain. Barcode verification is the process of grading the quality of barcodes. A barcode verifier assigns an overall grade to a code based on measurements of several quality parameters. Depending on the code type they apply different national and international standards.

Modern industrial design, usability and flexibility – these are the most important challenges for today's human machine interfaces. Inspired by consumer-oriented products industrial Panel PCs are facing new challenges.

With the mobile assistance system smartConnect by in-tech, authorised users can keep track of the production status, service requirements and KPIs at all times, even on the move.

With the launch of its multiprotocol technology six years ago, Turck introduced a new “era of simplicity” in fieldbus technology: Under the maxim “One device – three protocols”, Turck's I/O modules have been able since then to operate in Profinet, Ethernet/IP and Modbus TCP networks, reducing the number of devices that users have to keep in reserve. Turck's Backplane Ethernet Extension Protocol now allows another milestone to be reached. The new protocol...

There are times when every inch of space needs to be calculated and while everything is getting smaller and smaller, the built-in components must also adapt. With the MXE-1500 series of fanless Embedded PCs, Bressner offers a compact solution for Industrial Automation, Machine Control, Intelligent Transportation systems, Building Management, Industry 4.0, Traffic Monitoring and demanding IoT applications of all types - even in harsh environments.

Sensor specialist and provider of innovative automation solutions Balluff will be showcasing their expertise at the Hannover Exhibition (Hall 9, Booth F53).

Digital Transformation. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Next Generation Industrial Control. Industry 4.0. Enough buzzwords for you? However, these buzzwords do not help in the implementation of Industry 4.0. In this article, Wind River addresses six important requirements to be considered in the modernization of industrial control systems.