Automation Articles for Manufacturers and Engineers

From raw acquisition to tone-mapped output, IDS peak offers a code-free environment to test and deploy dynamic range solutions for reflective and variable-light scenes.

IDS Software Helps Users Refine Image Processing in the High Dynamic Range

Streamlining camera integration, evaluation, and processing across Clear HDR, Quad HDR, and Sequence HDR modes for complex industrial vision applications.

Strong reflections, changing light conditions, or large brightness differences complicate many applications of industrial image processing. High Dynamic Range (HDR) extends the measurable dynamic range and reveals details that may be lost in overexposed or underexposed areas of an image. Since different applications have different requirements, choosing the appropriate HDR method is an important step. Depending on the application, the focus may be on dynamic range, resolution or motion tolerance.

INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

The new Videojet 8530 thermal inkjet printer, designed to deliver high-resolution, fast-drying 2D codes and barcodes across high-speed packaging lines.

Videojet Technologies Launches Automation-Ready Inkjet Printers

Videojet Technologies, a global contributor to marking and coding solutions, has launched the Videojet 8530 and Wolke m620 touch thermal inkjet (TIJ) printers, designed to help manufacturers produce crisp, high-resolution codes at production line speeds. Supporting item and case-level packaging applications, these printers deliver reliable codes on boxes, cartons, foil, labels and other packaging materials across industries including pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food, beverage and electronics.

Murrelektronik's Vario-X on display at Automate 2026. The Vario-X is the flagship product that makes Murrelektronik's decentralized automation system possible.

Exploring Decentralized Automation with Murrelektronik

Do you centralize and pack everything into a single control cabinet like a command center for your entire factory, or do you decentralize and spread all of those components out across the floor, putting devices on the very machines they’re controlling? Both methods are proven to work, but taste, expertise and individual priorities can all lean you one way or the other. Nowadays, however, many manufacturers favor decentralized solutions. Having been there to see it all, decentralized automation specialists Murrelektronik are well-positioned to explain why this technology has grown so popular.

ROBOTICS

Instead of a fixed safety zone that causes the robot to slow down as soon as someone enters the cell, the safety sensor is now embedded directly on the robot arm, so the zone moves with the robot. This means operators, forklifts and AMRs can safely access one pallet station for pallet changeover, while the robot continues palletizing at the other without stopping or slowing down, significantly improving throughput speeds.

BeRobox Unveils 3D Dynamic Safety at Pack Expo

Debuting live at PACK EXPO International 2026, a new safety module combines Sonair's safety-certified 3D ultrasonic technology with beRobox engineering to bring real-time, dynamic detection directly to the robot arm, creating a moving 3D protective zone for non-stop, higher-speed palletizing

Deploying autonomous material handling: Cyngn’s DriveMod Autonomous Tugger in operation.

Cyngn Streamlines Warehouse Automation with DriveMod EasyLaunch

Cyngn announced DriveMod EasyLaunch, a new commercial program designed to make it faster and easier for manufacturers and warehouses to deploy autonomous material handling.

MOTION CONTROL

Redesigned stock catalogs, improved product relationship mapping, and real-time inventory tracking help reduce downtime and ordering errors on the new and improved myNORD Customer Portal.

NORD Streamlines Digital Ordering and Parts Selection on myNORD Portal

NORD DRIVESYSTEMS’ online shop makes ordering even easier. New user guidance makes it easier for customers to find, configure and order the right parts.

The new 400V EM-A Series sensorless servo motor from Mitsubishi Electric. Available in capacities from 0.4 kW to 7.5 kW, the expanded lineup delivers IE5-class energy efficiency and precise speed regulation without needing an external encoder.

Mitsubishi Electric Expands EM-A Series Sensorless Servo Motors

Mitsubishi Electric has expanded its EM-A series sensorless servo motor lineup with new 400V models, extending the availability of its high-efficiency motor technology for industrial automation, material handling, HVAC, water and wastewater, and general manufacturing applications. The new 400V offering is available in sizes ranging from 0.4 kW to 7.5 kW and is designed for use with Mitsubishi Electric's FR-E800 and FR-D800 Series variable frequency drives (VFDs).

AI

The Gen 7 platform from Universal Robots combines the g-Series cobot arms with the company's the new CB7 Core controller, the TP7 Core teach pendant, the SP7 Smart Panel tool-flange interface, and the PolyScope X software platform.

Accelerating Physical AI Deployment on Factory Floors

At Pack Expo 2026 in Chicago, Universal Robots (UR) is showcasing its newly launched 7th-generation robotics platform, Gen 7. Designed out-of-the-box as an AI-ready system, Gen 7 represents a full-stack redesign from tool flange to controller, engineered to reduce integration friction and accelerate the deployment of physical AI on factory floors.

Screenshot from the first episode of Season 6 from DigiKey's Factory Tomorrow video series, which focuses on intelligence at industrial scale, supported by supplier partners Phoenix Contact and Belden.

DigiKey Releases Factory Tomorrow Season 6

DigiKey, a global distributor of electronic components and automation products, announced the launch of Season 6 of Factory Tomorrow, a video series highlighting how manufacturers and technology suppliers are building the foundation for the next generation of industrial production.