Leland Teschler, Executive Editor lteschler@wtwhmedia.com On Twitter @ DW_LeeTeschler Scan the news pages from about eight years ago and you will likely notice a lot of hand-wringing about shortages of “critical materials” crucial for high-tech motors. The materials in question were rare-earth metals used for, among other things, making magnets with a super-high energy density. […]
The downside of patent protection
Leland Teschler – Executive Editor lteschler@wtwhmedia.com On Twitter @DW_LeeTeschler MUCH angst has been expressed over patent trolls that buy up low-quality patents then sue the bejesus out of potential infringers to “enforce” IP rights. Lest you think patent suits by these guys are over money earned from patents, consider this: Scholars at the National Bureau […]
Wearable electronics could make use of open-source microprocessors
by Leland Teschler, Executive Editor Scientists at ETH Zurich and the University of Bologna have open-sourced the design of one of their microprocessor systems. The arithmetic instructions that the microprocessor can perform are also open source: developers made the processor compatible with the open-source instruction set RISC-V developed at the University of California in Berkeley. […]
More programmability tops motion controller trends
Motion controllers are getting better simply because state-of-the-art industrial automation needs more capable controls. That’s the message coming from motion-industry veterans these days. “The amount of programmable features that can reside in FPGAs continues to rise,” said Joseph Profeta, control systems group director at Aerotech Inc., supplier of motion control, positioning and automation systems for […]
