The Timken Company has agreed to acquire CGI Inc., a Nevada-based manufacturer of precision drive systems serving a broad range of automation markets with a concentration in medical robotics. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval, and is expected to close in the third quarter.

Soft Robotics Inc. announced the divestiture of its gripper business assets to the Schmalz Group for an undisclosed sum. The company also announced that it has reformed as Oxipital AI, with a mission to deliver its transformative AI technology to customers in critical industries, enabling an entirely new generation of resilient, efficient, and sustainable manufacturing.

Predictive analytics will be all over IMTS 2024 including the Automation Sector, accelerated by SPS—smart production solutions. Visitors will find a broad range of digital solutions at IMTS 2024 at McCormick Place in Chicago on Sept. 9–14.

Motorized rotary tables RTLA-100-350HJ from Intellidrives features IP65 rated ingress protection. IP65 rating assures against ingress of dust and water jets against the rotary table surface. The hollow shaft table is integrated with a high rigidity cross-roller bearing. This structure improves permissible thrust load and moment load while maintaining high torque. 

Traditionally, drive technology and fluid power has been represented at Hannover Messe by a large number of companies from Germany and abroad, especially in odd-numbered years. This will also be the case in 2025 when manufacturers will present their latest applications and components for intelligent and sustainable production. All this, under the Motion & Drives label, will be focused in Halls 4, 5 and 6. 

Emerson has announced the new Series D update to the family of proven SolaHD industrial rack mount on-line uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs). The new SolaHD S4KD Series replaces the current S4KC Series, offering significant user interface improvements and other design upgrades to increase reliability and product availability. The S4KD is an on-line (double conversion) UPS, providing a zero-transfer time from external to internal power upon utility power failure to deliver a seamless flow of power for critical loads. The S4KD is available in 1000-3000 VA in 120 V and 3000 VA in 230 V configurations, each housed in a slim 2U form factor.

Columbus McKinnon will be consolidating its North American Duff Norton linear motion production activities from Charlotte, NC, with its new, state-of-the-art North American Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Monterrey, Mexico. By the end of September 2024, all production of Duff Norton linear motion products will occur out of this new facility. 

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation recently announced that it had been awarded a Guinness World Records title on May 21, 2024, for the fastest robot to solve a puzzle cube using the TOKUI Fast Accurate Synchronized Motion Testing Robot (TOKUFASTbot). The previous record of 0.38 seconds was trumped by TOKUFASTbot's time of 0.305 seconds. 

SKF is providing key components for the next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), a $2 billion telescope system that aims to peer deeper into the universe than ever before.

ABB has launched its new OmniVance Collaborative Machine Tending Cell, providing a complete integrated solution for automated machine tending that is easy to program, install and use. The standardized solution combines a collaborative GoFa 12 robot and user-friendly software in a compact solution for fast installation and easy operation.