Online magazine for design and development

Here you will find everything that the designer needs for his design and the development engineer for his new development, from the draft to quality assurance in production, such as new products, their applications, new technologies or research results. Company reports as well as topics on technological and megatrends in all industrial sectors complete our range of industry news. Let's start with the news.

Company News

Ebm-Papst wants to sell industrial drive technology to Siemens
The Ebm-Papst Group has announced that it will sell its Industrial Drive Technology (IDT) division to Siemens AG. Both sides have signed a corresponding agreement.
Jumo's new Sensilo plant construction is progressing
Jumo is building a factory in the technology park for the production of temperature and pressure sensors with a production area of ​​around 13 m². At around 000 million euros, the new building is the largest investment in the company's history.
3DExperience Word 2024 in Dallas
At 3DExperience World 2024 in February in Dallas, Texas, Dassault Systèmes celebrated the event's 25th anniversary. The annual user meeting supports the global community in the development of future-proof products and processes.
Michael Koch GmbH moves into a new workshop
There is now more space available in Michael Koch's “Factory” for the assembly of customer- and machine-specific safe braking resistors. The new, modern hall was recently “taken by storm” by the employees.
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for profit-making
Elon Musk files a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of breach of contract because the company, which was originally designed as a nonprofit, is now operating for profit.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Industry news for your design and development from the specialist areas

communication technology

communication technology

World's first Omlox testing laboratory put into operation

The first Omlox testing laboratory in the world has been launched. The PI granted the Fraunhofer Institute Lemgo approval as a PI test laboratory for Omlox.

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switch cabinet

switch cabinet

On to the intelligent drive train for predictive maintenance

The Roba-brake-checker module or the torque-measuring shaft coupling from Mayr ensure intelligent safety in smart production.

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plastics

plastics

The first 100 Igus bikes hit the streets

The first 100 Igus Urban Bikes hit the streets and an in-house production facility with a capacity of 10.000 bicycles is set up in Cologne.

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Couplings

Couplings

Torque measuring shaft coupling

The smart steel multi-plate coupling Roba-drive-checker from Mayr can do more than just transmit torque and compensate for shaft misalignment.

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INDUSTRY SPECIALS

Industry news for your design and development from the branches

food technology

food technology

Lubrication and sealing-optimized linear guide

Schaeffler presents linear guides for food technology with optimized seals, wipers and long-term lubrication units.

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Mobile Machinery

Mobile Machinery

Flexible, customizable gateway for agricultural technology

IFM Electronic is presenting the Isobus Gateway at the Hannover Messe, which is designed for agricultural equipment and can be specifically adapted.

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Energy Technology

Energy Technology

All Electric Society – vision of the future of connectivity

At the Hannover Messe Preview, Harting gives an outlook on the Hannover Messe and draws the future picture of an “All Electric Society”.

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Inverter

Inverter

Certified servo controller with Profisafe interface

At Logimat, Wittenstein is presenting a safety-certified servo controller with a Profisafe interface and integrated safety card for AGVs.

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EXHIBITION SPECIALS

Industry fair news

Hannover Messe promotes energy for sustainable industry
As a networked industrial ecosystem, the exhibitors demonstrate how climate neutrality can be achieved through the use of electrification, digitalization and automation under the guiding theme of Energizing a sustainable Industry.
Control Fair 2024 | The industry is already looking forward to Stuttgart
Control 2024, the important international trade fair for quality assurance, will take place from April 23rd to 26th in Stuttgart. The trade fair places a particular focus on automation and digitalization.
SPS Nuremberg: Now in 16 halls!
The SPS – Smart Production Solutions from November 14th to 16.11th. 2023 will see significant growth in the trade fair compared to the previous year and is on the way to pre-Corona levels.

mathworks0618With new techniques like Artificial intelligence (AI) not only our society, but also the industry is facing a fundamental change. While companies from the engineering team to senior management recognize the need to implement AI in their design and development processes, actual implementation of AI technologies has been slow.

The main reason is that many do not know exactly how this technique can be used efficiently and profitably. However, this is only one of many questions that companies should ask themselves if they want to use AI

Beyond Alexa and autonomous driving

mathworks10618Face recognition on Facebook, machine translation or autonomous driving - Artificial intelligence is already being used in many areas and gives us a glimpse of a future in which machines can assume increasingly important tasks.

But what does Artificial Intelligence mean for an engineer in a medium-sized company or for a scientist in a research institute? The possibilities are many-sided: with AI, for example, new methods of food control can be applied or the geological nature of rocks analyzed to make tunnels faster, more efficient and less expensive. In almost all areas of research and industry, AI technologies can be used to make processes more efficient or to find new ways to master tasks.

How artificial intelligence becomes efficient

When speaking of Artificial Intelligence today, in most cases it is meant that a machine can mimic intelligent human action - a definition that has existed since the introduction of the term AI in the 50 years. But for a really efficient use, the machine only becomes interesting if it can match or even surpass human performance. That's the way we give people the ability to do repetitive tasks or have things done faster, more safely, or more accurately by computers.

For this, machines have to be trained for specific tasks. Traditionally, this meant creating a program that processes the data and then delivers the output you want. Applying machine learning - a widely used AI technique - reverses this approach by making sure that the machine gets all the important data and dictating the desired output. The computer then writes the appropriate program for it. In some cases, only the input and the machine creates a corresponding model.

Data, earnings, machine-learning model - something is missing

But in most cases, data, a desired outcome, and the ability to create a machine-learning model make up only a small portion of an application. What is missing, for example, is the entire process of data collection and processing in advance and its implementation in an embedded system.

This becomes clear with the example of a lane assistance system: A machine learning model recognizes the lanes on roads and can ensure that a vehicle keeps its lane. But first, data from many different sensors and cameras must be obtained and synchronized. In addition, the system needs information about the speed and whether the vehicle should turn. These data must be analyzed and preprocessed - for example, to correct poorly exposed images or image disturbances caused by heavy snowfall.

The lane detection algorithm needs to be integrated into simulations to test if it works properly. It is then installed on an embedded processor to run in real time in the vehicle.

AI as part of a fully mature design process

All of these tasks are workspaces of engineers and researchers, without which the AI ​​model would not work. This means that artificial intelligence is only one step in the work of many, at the end of which there is an intelligent machine. In fact, it is only part of the model development. In addition, it may be useful to use traditional algorithm development or modeling and simulation.

Looking at the entire workflow, there are still some essential steps to be taken, such as the ability to acquire data from sensors, documents or databases and analyze, analyze and process them. Following model building, deployment takes place on desktop apps, in data centers and clouds, or on embedded systems.

In the end, AI is just another tool we can use to solve challenges in a different way or face new challenges. We want to show that AI is easily accessible to engineers and researchers, and that they can use it in a workflow that is familiar to them, even if they do not have any special previous knowledge in this area.

Excerpt from the keynote address for Matlab Expo