We’ve hardly begun to explore the world of possibilities that automation makes available for us. Particularly as the fields of robotics and automation have developed, we’ve begun to realize the potential for technological advancement, increased rates of innovation and even cultural changes that those technologies make available to us. Robotics and automation are technologies in motion, and I mean that both literally and figuratively. Automated robots are all about autonomy and movement; they are designed to reproduce the kinds of movement and behavior that were once restricted to living things. So in this way they embody another kind of movement, and that is movement into the future that robotics makes available for humanity.

In most cases, motion actuators are responsible for the literal movement I mentioned. Robots, for all their advanced features, must be composed as the same, basic parts as the living things they’re designed to emulate. They need a sturdy structure that can give them shape, they need hinges and wheels that mimic joints to allow for flexibility and they need actuators to fill the role that muscles play in living things. An actuator is like a muscle, expanding and contracting in order to control the positioning of attached parts. Linear motion actuators, rotary motion actuators and other kinds of actuators make it possible for robotic machinery to seem animated. Like living things, they seem to somehow move on their own, and that is the magic of automation and actuation technologies. They make things go.

We haven’t found a tremendously large number of uses for these remarkable products yet, but that number is surging, especially as industry searches for new ways to reduce costs and incorporate more automation into their operations. Actuated, automated machinery can be precise, efficient and minimally labor-intensive to operate and maintain. The possibilities that motion actuators make available to the world may be virtually limitless, and we’re only going to discover more of them as time goes on.