The Growing Ease of Use in Motion Control

Performance, flexibility, and ease of use have always been concerns when it comes to motion control. Only recently, however, have these elements become key considerations across every aspect of system design. Today’s engineers are empowered with highly flexible tools and capabilities. These innovations give them granular control over their systems, resulting in better performance and longer functional life.

Some important concepts emerging in motion control include:

Auto-Tuning

Tuning a drive is one of the most time-intensive aspects of maintaining expected performance. It is not unusual for the whole process to demand days of work from an entire team of engineers. The first auto-tuning drives reduced, but did not eliminate, this maintenance overhead. Now, auto-tuning drives can be immediately set up to handle the most common tasks and operating environments.

Broad Availability of Components

Interoperability and overall compatibility have grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years. Entire motion control systems can now be accessed by virtually any device on any port. OEMs and integrators are empowered to monitor output and resolve problems through robust online connections – making it easier than ever to evaluate every aspect of performance.

Software-Defined Automation

In the near future, software-defined networking holds the promise of robust, ever-evolving online systems that adjust on the fly to manage new challenges and requirements. This same idea is now being applied to motion control thanks to software-defined automation. Changeovers have been vastly accelerated and systems can be adjusted through a wide variety of networked devices.

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Pre-Written Code

The need for advanced programming skills in system optimization has been a thorn in the side of many engineers, from motion control to machine vision and more. Now, the discipline benefits from a foundational software design concept: A wealth of clean, reusable code. Pre-written code can easily be adapted to new problems and used as a basis for innovation, saving thousands of hours.

With these new ideas taking root, engineers have good reason to be optimistic about a future in which rework is minimized, allowing them to focus on high-level tasks.

Although motion control may be more user-friendly than ever, it’s still crucial to remain knowledgeable about systems and their components. The more an engineer knows, the easier it will be to fully customize a new system in light of its requirements and expected use.

To learn more, see the recent MCMA webinar: What’s New in Motion Control Applications?