The brains of the operation

摘要

As interesting as robots are to watch in operation, it is what they are "thinking" that really impresses. After all, the visible parts are mostly basic metal limbs and hands manipulated into different positions by electric motors. Operating behind the scenes are the brains and other essential organs that bring sense to the mechanical anatomy.rnSupplying CNC controllers and drives for robots and other automated equipment, Siemens Energy & Automation is considered a brains company in the world of robots. But it also supplies muscle, in the form of servomotors.rnAs its Aerospace Industry Director, Tim Shafer is one of the company's leading brains. A key technology the company offers is an open interface to the NC kernel, he said. "The open interface enables, among other things, development and implementation of custom transformations. These custom cycles allow the machine designer to create and control virtually any kinematics scheme. The [Siemens] 840D control can interpolate up to 64 axes and provides real-time kinematics transformation of up to seven axes."rnSiemens' name for customized NC software is called Compile Cycles.