In practice

Selecting the optimal linear motion technology

Linear motion on machines traditionally uses pneumatic or electric drives, but there are more options available today than designers may realise. Josh Roberts, Product Manager at Festo GB, explains how to make the best selection for your application.

In practice

Soft fruit quality control sped up

Karsten Europe handles the distribution of grapes from Africa and has recently started fully automatically checking the quality of imported grapes via an AI aided vision system from the company Gearbox. Besides advanced hardware and software, at the heart of this machine are electric drives from Festo's Simplified Motion Series, which are used to eject failed products in a controlled manner. Gearbox opted for the simple electric automation solution because it saved having compressed air as a secondary energy source, and because electric drives provided the repeatability they required.

In practice

Robotic automation is racing ahead

It is an exciting time in engineering automation. Over the past decade, the pace of innovation has accelerated automation and robotics to meet demands from the sector. Global sales volume of industrial robots has tripled[1] and the industrial robotics market is projected to reach USD 30.8 billion by 2027, from 17.68 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 14.3% during the forecast period[2] .