Adept Handling Robot Showcased At Food Expo

Adept Technology has announced that its USDA-accepted robot for high-speed food handling will be showcased at the Worldwide Food Expo in Chicago, Illinois on 28-31 October, 2009. The Quattro s650HS is said to be the only USDA-accepted parallel robot available for food processing. It is also available with an optional fixed platform addressing high-payload applications.

The Quattro line is designed for high-speed manufacturing, packaging, material handling and assembly applications. It features a four-arm kinematic, enabling higher speeds and faster accelerations. The Quattro is suitable for flexible packaging, material handling, kitting and assembly applications where performance is of paramount consideration.

Adept Presents Quattro S650H Robot

Adept Technology will be demonstrating the Adept Quattro S650H robot for solar manufacturing at the Taiwan International Photovoltaic Forum and Exhibition in Taipei, from 7-9 October. The technology will be shown in a solar wafer handling system, designed by the company's partner Castec International, on booth 1359. Castec will be demonstrating the high-speed system using the Quattro S650H robot with integrated vision guidance and inspection.

'Castec's turnkey automation solutions, incorporating Adept's robotics and control products, are designed to increase throughput, minimise breakage and reduce scrap,' said Rush LaSelle, director of global sales and marketing. The demonstration system will feature the Adept Quattro robot, which is a parallel robot (or 'delta robot') that features a four-arm rotational platform designed for maximum speed and maximum acceleration across the entire work envelope.

The embedded amplifiers and compact controls in the Adept Quattro parallel robot make installation easy and enable reduced workspace. Adeptsight is a stand-alone vision guidance and inspection package that runs on a PC and comes complete with all the necessary hardware and accessories.

The software includes a powerful framework that can be used to develop customised vision guidance and inspection applications. Its graphical interface is said to allow the user to develop robust and accurate vision applications. The Taiwan International Photovoltaic Forum and Exhibition will be held from 7-9 October 2009 at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall, Area A.

UEI DNA/DNR 1553 Interface Boards Added By Adept

Adept Scientific has added the DNA/DNR-1553-553 two-channel, dual redundant, 1553 bus interface boards from United Electronic Industries (UEI). Each board provides two independent, dual redundant bus interfaces for 1553 communication.

The DNA version is compatible with UEI PowerDNA and UEIPAC 'Cubes' while the DNR version is designed for use in UEI's 12- and six-slot Racktangle chassis. Each port may be independently configured as a bus controller (BC), remote terminal (RT) or bus monitor (BM). Designed to function in harsh environments, the DNA/DNR-1553-553 is fully tested for operation from -40C to +85C, 0-70,000ft and can withstand 5g vibration and up to 50g shock.

UEI's Cube architecture is a compact (4 x 4 x 4in or 4 x 4 x 5.8in) Ethernet-based I/O platform. It may be deployed in four different configurations. These are: Ethernet I/O systems slaved to a host PC; standalone data logger/recorder; Linux-based programmable automation controller (PAC); or Modbus TCP-based I/O slave. Each Cube consists of a core module (that holds the processor and network interface) along with three or six open I/O slots.

Users select the deployment option that meets their requirements. Users then match the Cube's I/O configuration to their application by selecting the appropriate boards. More than 25 I/O boards are available. The six-slot Cube provides up to 150 analogue inputs, 192 analogue outputs, 288 digital I/O, 48 counter or quadrature channels, 72 ARINC-429 channels, 24 Serial or CAN-bus ports or 12 1553 channels.

Adept Adds Diagnostic Display To UEI's Datalogger

Adept Scientific has introduced a major software upgrade to UEI's (United Electronic Industries) Datalogger. UEILogger 2.0's new diagnostic display lets the user view data as it is acquired in real-time and provides the flexibility to turn the display on and off at any time during a data-logging application without any disruption in the data acquisition. The UEILogger's new features include: the ability to sample up to 1000 samples per second per channel and real-time diagnostic display while logging.

Additional highlights include: the flexibility to select the I/O required to match an application; up to 150 analogue or 288 digital I/O per logger; support for more than 20 different I/O modules (including: CAN, ARINC and serial data); easy-to-use, intuitive Windows setup; standard SD card (a 2Gbyte card that holds up to 500 million samples); resistance to: temperatures of -40 to +85C, 5g vibration, 50g shock; compact size: UEILogger 300 (three I/O slots) measures 4 x 4.1 x 4.0in (102 x 104.1 x 102mm), UEILogger 600 (six I/O slots) measures 4 x 4.1 x 5.8in; AC or DC battery powered; program logger via Ethernet or program stored on SD card.

Logging can be started and stopped via CAN-bus command. It is an ideal replacement for standard paper chart recorders.

Adept Adds Expansion Module To USB DAQ Range

Adept Scientific has added the AI-Exp32 to the USB-2416XX family of USB-based data acquisition devices from Measurement Computing. The AI-Exp32 is an expansion module that will double the analogue input channels to 16 differential or 32 single-ended inputs when connected to the USB-2416XX.

As such, the AI-Exp32 is the low-cost option to extending data acquisition capabilities as the requirement grows, by simply plugging it into an existing USB-2416XX module. With CJC and open TC detection in the thermocouple mode included, and an additional 16 digital I/O lines provided for a combined total of 24, the AI-Exp32 is ideal for lightweight, compact USB data acquisition.