Synchronization is an essential element of both symphony orchestras and football teams. It’s also important to the success of high-speed assembly lines.

Traditionally, a complex manufacturing machine has one large, powerful controller that governs sequencing, motion and I/O. Multiple drives and motors are connected to the controller via a motion network.

With a kinematic mechanism, the position of the end-effector is not determined by straight-line motion.

Cam-driven pick-and-place devices have long been a staple of high-speed, multistation automated assembly systems.

Fifty milliseconds may not seem like a lot of time. Indeed, the human eye takes between 300 and 400 milliseconds to complete a single blink. And yet in the context of a high-speed automated assembly system, in which a single linear actuator might make more than a dozen moves per minute, 50 milliseconds here and there can really add up.

Being green isn’t easy for Kermit the Frog. But for manufacturing and design engineers, it’s a lot easier than they might think.