What to Do When Your Indramat Servo Motor Isn’t Moving

Clearly something is wrong if your servo motor isn’t moving. That goes without saying. Indramat servos are built to work reliably with little to no maintenance for years at a time. Of course, if you’ve neglected your servos since they were installed back in the 1980’s, they’re long overdue for some TLC. Here’s what you… Read more »

AI Wearables in the Factory

AI holds plenty of promise for manufacturing, but getting from abstract promise to actual use cases may take a while. One way AI can play a significant role in enhancing workplace safety in factories is by working with personal wearables to identify and ameliorate hazardous conditions and habits. Here’s how this can be achieved: Data… Read more »

Is Your Robot Server a Gimmick?

61 Chili’s restaurants have been testing a robot server known fondly as Rita the Robot. Most of then are firing Rita. Bear Robotics, the makers of Rita, call the basic model Servi. It’s a self-driving rolling cart that can speak and sing in a high, perky voice. Chili’s human workers say that Rita is not… Read more »

Are We Through Being Scared of Factory Automation?

One thing is clear when you browse internet headlines about manufacturing, factory automation, or industrial robots. Humanity is doomed. Well, the human workforce is doomed, anyway. Most headlines about factory automation center around the marvelous capabilities of factory robots and the fact that man can’t compete with machine. However, an increasing number of these headlines… Read more »

Manufacturing and the Metaverse

The current trends in tech talk are focusing on artificial intelligence, especially generative AI, and humanoid robots. They are more thrilling than the AR and VR experiences that were energizing the conversations about the metaverse. But the metaverse may be more relevant for manufacturing right now. What’s the metaverse? The term “metaverse” refers to a… Read more »

Replacing Manuals for Indramat Products

Whether you started out with a paper copy or a digital Indramat manual, there’s a good chance it’s now lost. Many of the Indramat systems running today were installed twenty or thirty years ago. People lose glasses, keys, and things that they use every day; hanging on to a project planning manual or troubleshooting guide… Read more »

The Three R’s of Indramat Service

You may have learned about the three R’s in school while you were growing up: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Maybe you learned the three R’s of sustainability: reduce reuse, recycle (there are several more R’s on this list now). However, it’s a shame that they don’t teach you about the three R’s of Indramat service… Read more »

Aging Indramat Components

Indramat CLC-D

As technology advances at an unprecedented pace, it’s easy to overlook one of the most fundamental challenges in the field: aging components. From the microchips in your smartphone to the turbines in power plants, all technological systems are composed of various components that have finite lifespans. The problems associated with aging components are multifaceted and… Read more »

AI and Workers’ Rights

AI workers

Automation is taking over many jobs in manufacturing, partly just because it can and partly because of the severe shortage of workers in the industry. Automation in agriculture and hospitality is still more aspirational than real, but AI is bringing it closer to reality as labor shortages in these fields increase the demand for automation…. Read more »

Replacing an Indramat HDS Drive

The Indramat HDS drive series offers unrivaled versatility designed for a wide range of motion control applications. HDS drives are compatible with MKD motors, MHD motors, 1MB motors, and 2AD motors, and they are well suited for machine tooling, textiles, printing, packaging, and robotics and handling machines. There’s no denying the flexibility of these drives,… Read more »