At HP's Input Output site, Steven Vaughan-Nichols writes about the History of the Floppy Disk.  

He points to Alan Shugart, who, in 1967, was direct access storage manager at IBM, and was resposible for assigning David Nobel to lead the development of a reliable and…

Our team here at Design World has put together a follow up to last year’s Motion Control Handbook, this time with an emphasis on how to select the right components for your motion control system.

The goal is to make you aware of the most important considerations for sizing and selecting components for motion control applications. As you probably already know, entire textbooks have been written on just the physics and dynamics of the mechanical and electrical systems…

The use of Windform® XT and additive manufacturing (AM)/3D printing (3DP) technology demonstrates the fast adaptability and freedom of design possible in nearly any field. For the developers of the RAMPART Cube Sat, the use of this material and technology enabled them to modify, change, and add experiments without concern for having to develop tooling or modify an existing cube structure.

By Franco Cevolini, CEO, CRP Technology S.r.l; Walter Holemans, Planetary Systems Corporation;…

The food and beverage industries have a history of manual operations, from one end of the plant to the other, including lab and quality operations. In order to improve productivity and quality control, many food and beverage operations have begun integrating these operations and making them conform to automation standards.

See more information …

Silicon Valley is home to so many software startups, from giants like Facebook and Google in the South Bay to Twitter, Zynga and Salesforce in San Francisco. There seems to be a new app, social network or cloud tool emerging every day.

But software startups don't have all the fun. 

Even though software startups outnumber hardware startups in the Valley, new technologies are opening the door for a hardware startup renaissance. Take the popularity of …

There is much confusion about what interlaminar stresses are and how to calculate them using composites analysis. Interlaminar stresses are the source of failure mechanisms uniquely characteristic of composite materials; their existence is a major reason that laminated composites tend to delaminate near free edges, such as edges of a plate or around holes. However, there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding of how to define interlaminar stresses and how to predict them using finite element…

In this constantly shifting industry, it can be a challenge to keep up with all the changes and developments of who is offering what in the way of 3D printing and additive manufacturing. Tuan Tranpham, Referral Channel Manager at Objet Inc., has…

It’s critical to seize opportunities during the transformation in the industrial automation market. Here are some hints to understanding the industry.

The industrial automation market is undergoing a major change. Cloud computing is becoming mainstream, demand for energy management technologies is growing, and the rise of intelligent mobile devices is accelerating the evolution of automation. To succeed in this environment, manufacturers and system integrators…

Several European 3D printing/Additive manufacturing companies are establishing offices here in the U.S. One of them is SLM Solutions, which develops and sells laser sintered metal machines, competing with EOS, 3D Systems, and now Renishaw.

In 2012, SLM Solutions established an office in Commerce, Michigan. Reasons for doing so include the increasing demand for technical consulting services as…

Everywhere we turn - journal articles, trade magazines, blogs, etc., we see how one company or another has benefitted by using engineering simulation in their development process. Some examples of engineering simulation are finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics analysis (CFD), and electromagnetic analysis (EM). Some people refer to this field, in general, as computer aided engineering (CAE). Whatever contraction you prefer, simulating product performance in the virtual…

The latest version of the HepcoMotion® PRT2 product line — a collection of ring slides and segments, bearings and ancillary components — includes a new…

NI Labview's CompactRio is an 8-module platform. Users have the option of 50 different interchangeable modules, capable of satisfying specific design needs.

The Rio can be used for many applications and runs off of LabView software.

National Instruments…

Assembly departments in the automotive sector are usually the least automated processes in the production chain; this means that it’s very difficult to improve parameters such as efficiency, quality alignment and data collection. In order to achieve these objectives our customer, one of the main system integrators in this market, working with the most important automotive manufacturer companies in Italy, needed a modular and flexible system, that was able to…

Personally in the past I have felt it can be a daunting task for an electronic fanatic to gather the required electronic components for any project. Some parts are hard to get in some countries and the high cost aggravated by shipping and administration I find so frustrating.

However, luckily the internet is slowly taking root to nurture talents and boost young minds of such people short of cash but with innovative ideas such…

Yesterday was the opening shots fired as the billion-dollar Apple v Samsung patent case gets underway in a San Jose courtroom.

The two bitter rivals are arguing over a cluster of phone patents, each alleging that the other is infringing on intellectual property as they vie for top place in the smartphone wars.

Both companies are seeking potentially billions of pounds…

Check out this very heart warming story about the use of 3D printing and robotic principles to help a young girl overcome the limitations of disease. http://www.stratasys.com/Resources/Case-Studies/Medical-FDM-Technology-Case-Studies/Nemours.aspx