Technology to stay ahead of the competition

Those who want to distinguish themselves with their machines need innovative, smart components. The trends for tomorrow? Flexible drive concepts, integrated vision technology, a control cabinet that is no longer a control cabinet, and a robot tailored to each application. 

By that robot, by the way, we mean the ATRO, an industrial robot that can be configured from standard modules. One or more axes, one or more robot arms with grippers...: just click the modules together to build it according to your application. If that changes tomorrow, the same modules can simply serve again for a completely different setup. There are basic modules, which have all the connections inside for energy supply. The motor modules contain a motor, gearbox and all associated electronics. Finally, the link modules make sure everything gets neatly connected. Whether you want to build a three-axis delta robot, a four-axis picker or a five-axis palletizing robot. Endless applications. Payloads of 3, 5 or 10 kg will be possible.

Ease of use first

So flexibility is key, but Beckhoff has also thought about your ease of use. Your application is up and running after only a few minutes. The configuration of the robot is scanned, via easy handling you simply learn its positions manually, and hupsakee everything is ready. Without any programming knowledge, the positions can be set very precisely via the parameters, everything of course fully integrated into TwinCAT for perfect synchronous operation. 

What's even more striking: it's inside, with this robot. All media are integrated into the modules (data, power, compressed air or water...), from the base to the end station. So no limitations in rotation, which opens up a lot of new possibilities for applications. It also allows the robot's footprint to remain very compact, as it can always choose the shortest path. The Atro would be available starting in 2025.

XTS: step toward individualized products

Two promising mavericks in the world of drive technology are XTS and XPlanar. We mention them in the same breath because they both put machine builders on the road to individualized products. Because they do things a little differently, a little better than we have been used to for years. 

Machines of today and tomorrow must be more compact, efficient and flexible than ever before. So forget the classic conveyor belt, which is less suitable for a high mix, low volume production environment. Especially for those who don't want downtime in between due to mechanical adjustments. With XTS, on the other hand, an individual track layout can be realized, between different machines or between different operations. Need more volume quickly? Then simply add additional movers. Traffic can be perfectly simulated in and controlled from TwinCAT. Need adjustment in production? Then only a change in the software needs to be made. Production can continue in no time. And did you know that for food companies there is also a perfect hygienic version in electro-polished stainless steel with protection degree IP69K?

XPlanar: complete freedom of movement

For those who want to go even further and enable complete freedom of movement in their machines or production lines, there is XPlanar. The movers now no longer need a track; they move on tiles two-dimensionally by means of a magnetic field. Rotations, X or Y movements, lifting, tilting ...: it's all possible. With this, Beckhoff is also already showing what the next step in intelligent product movements will look like. 

Far future, you say? On the contrary. They are indeed already up and running in industry. One such application has to do with plasma cleaning. Instead of moving the plasma head over the products, the products move under it. Result: less wear and tear and thus a longer lifespan. There are also many opportunities in the food industry. For example, to create a buffer zone after slicing. The slices then continue their way under UV cleaners to the packaging process, always perfectly positioned, always perfectly hygienic. You can assemble your own solution or have Beckhoff deliver the ready-made and tested assemblies of XTS and XPlanar (including the appropriate parameter set and switch boxes) to your workshop.

Achieve perfectly synchronized vision applications

Another novelty in the Beckhoff range are hardware components for vision applications: cameras, lenses and lighting. Why should a PLC specialist throw itself into this market? To enable perfect synchronization between the camera, lighting and PLC. 

Specialists were brought in house for the development of the hardware components; the lenses were developed in cooperation with a specialized partner. What immediately stands out about the housing of the LEDs and cameras is the EtherCAT P connector. Both the cameras and the LEDs are EtherCAT slaves with Distributed Clock technology. This allows very precise synchronization for, for example, applications with a fast trigger. Another big advantage is the already integrated electronics in the lights, eliminating the need for an additional LED strobe controller. 

The area scan cameras VCS2000 are available with resolution from 1.6MP to 24MP and a 2.5 Gbits/s transmission rate with the GigE Vision standard. The OGB-IR850 lighting family VIx2000 consists of pannel, ring and bar lights with different sizes and mounting adapters. Ideal for quality inspections, precise object detection or other vision applications.

MX-System: no more need for a control cabinet

Finally, let's not forget to mention the MX-System. Because here, too, there is a damned lot of potential to turn mechanical engineering thoroughly on its head. After all, with the MX-System, there is no longer any need for a classic control cabinet. Control cabinets are of course useful components, but they often require the necessary space, long cable lengths and a lot of engineering and installation work. There must be a better way, right? With MX-System, everything you need from power supply, data connection, relays, IPCs, I/Os, motion ... will now fit on a base plate. The only thing left to do is screw and snap on. German Chancellor Scholz demonstrated at the last Hannover Messe that this is a piece of cake. 

And what does that deliver? Where a typical control cabinet has 146 parts, you now only need 15 more. Set-up time has dropped from 28 to 1 hour, and electrical schematics are now only 24 pages instead of 92. So big gains in all areas: less space, less assembly time, everything pluggable and hot swappable.... 

And also your application is now completely digitized, because all functions can be monitored via EtherCAT. A configurator is currently under development so that you can see what you need based on the parameters of your application. Ultimate ease of use!