Ivan Hernandez Dalas - Mechatronics

Sponsored by GAM . GAM rack, pinion, and gearbox systems are optimized for high performance in all the components. (Image: GAM.) Picture a scissor car jack — the one in your trunk for changing a tire. The spinning motion as you turn the crank translates to the linear motion as the jack rises. This is how a rack and pinion system works. The spinning part is the pinion, a gear that receives the rotational input. The toothed part being pushed along is the rack, a long bar with gear teeth that the pinion rides against. Depending on the application, either the rack moves back and forth while the pinion stays in place, or the rack stays fixed and whatever the pinion is attached to travels back and forth (or up and down). It is important to select the right rack and pinion system, as a wrong decision can impact both performance and cost. “If you go too small with your rack and pinion, it can break,” says Matt Ruggles, senior design engineer at GAM, a U.S.-based manufacturer of servo gear...

Hylio offers a range of drones that use digital flowmeters to spray fields at precise dosages. | Source: Hylio Earlier this year, the Federal Communication Commission threw much of the robotics industry into uncertainty when it announced new limits on imports of certain robots from foreign countries. For those building and operating drones such as Hylio, this is a familiar story. In December 2025, the FCC added foreign-made drones and U.S.-assembled drones with major foreign-made parts, to its Covered List . This list includes companies and technologies that the commission has prohibited. Arthur Erickson, the co-founder and CEO of agricultural drone developer Hylio, said the news didn’t come as a surprise for him. Erickson launched the Richmond, Texas-based company  in 2015. Even then, he saw that China had a clear advantage in the drone market. This is why he made manufacturing in the U.S. as much as possible a priority. “There was part of me that knew that was going to b...

From 25–27 August, UK RAS STEPS members came together at the University of York’s Institute for Safe Autonomy for a three-day Micromaze Robot Hackathon. Working in teams, participants were challenged to design, build and program autonomous robots capable of navigating a series of increasingly complex mazes. Each team used a custom Raspberry Pi Pico W robotics platform, designed a laser-cut chassis, integrated motors and sensors, and developed its control software in MicroPython. Participants had access to ultrasonic, infrared and time-of-flight sensors, alongside laser-cutting and 3D-printing facilities. The final challenge considered maze performance, collision avoidance, robot design, code quality, wireless control and any innovative features developed by the teams. The programme also included a tour of the Institute for Safe Autonomy, collaborative development sessions, final presentations and robot demonstrations. Beyond the technical challenge, the Hackathon helped test an a...

Collaborative robot arms from JAKA Robotics (left) and Universal Robots. JAKA Robotics asked last week where the Teradyne Robotics lawsuit was. Well, safe to say JAKA found it. The Unified Patent Court (UPC) docket shows Teradyne filed its patent infringement case against JAKA Robotics GmbH on Aug. 24, 2026 – three days before Teradyne Robotics publicly announced the lawsuit. Teradyne Robotics A/S, which owns Universal Robots , is accusing JAKA’s German subsidiary of infringing the patents. Teradyne previously said the case covers both hardware and software and a broad range of JAKA collaborative robots sold in Europe. Teradyne is the world’s leading developer of collaborative robot arms, having sold more than 100,000 robots since it was founded in 2005. 3 patents involved The case, UPC-CFI-0003057/2026 , was filed in the UPC’s Copenhagen Local Division and centers on three Universal Robots patents: EP1996376 | Programmable Robot and User Interface: covers a programmab...

Ratel Robotics makes uncrewed ground vehicles for Ukrainian defense. Credit: Viktor Kharyton, Swarmer Ukrainian companies have demonstrated their ability to develop and field autonomous systems at a fraction of the price of Western defense contractors, according to Swarmer Inc. The company today said it has signed an agreement to acquire Ratel Robotics, a leading manufacturer of uncrewed ground vehicles or UGVs. “Ratel is a major provider of UGVs for Ukraine,” stated Alex Fink, co-founder, president, and U.S. CEO of Swarmer. “Combining a battle-tested launch platform with our combat-proven autonomy software is the key to creating versatile, interoperable solutions. We are excited to have [CEO] Taras Ostapchuk and his team at Ratel Robotics be the first to join Swarmer and grow our business in Ukraine and beyond.” Founded in 2023, Swarmer said it specializes in vendor-agnostic software that allows one operator to control hundreds of autonomous platforms in real time. The Austin, Tex...

Comau designed its MyCo family of cobots for quick installation, easy programming, and rapid redeployment. | Source: Comau Comau SpA yesterday said it has designed and validated an order-preparation system tested in Decathlon’s e-commerce fulfillment operations. The system is part of MASTERLY, a European initiative designed to accelerate the transition from traditional mass production to highly flexible, customized manufacturing systems. The system uses the Turin, Italy-based company ‘s MyCo collaborative robot with a ROS 2-based software architecture. It integrates an advanced modular gripper to autonomously manage picking , handling , and palletizing tasks across variable product flows. “Comau’s role in the MASTERLY project is fully aligned with our commitment to advancing next-generation manufacturing by promoting reconfigurability, efficiency, and human-centric automation,” said Alessandro Piscioneri, the head of product and solution management of advanced automation so...