Machine Marriage
Making a part and measuring its quality have long been two very separate operations. Often manufacturers send a finished part offsite to a facility that houses a coordinate measuring machine (CMM), which checks the part’s conformity to specifications. For a company running a high-speed assembly line, the delay means wasted time.
To avoid this inefficiency, the folks at Tokyo-based measuring-tools manufacturer Mitutoyo have built a heavy-duty CMM called the Mach. The device is robust enough to be integrated with a machine tool to determine immediately if specifications are being met as a part is made. According to Bill Wilde, manager of marketing and research at MTI Mitutoyo’s U.S. subsidiary in Aurora, Ill., the Mach’s measurement probe moves five times faster than that of a conventional CMM. Wilde says that MTI aims to offer the Mach commercially by mid-2000.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
The viral AI avatar app Lensa undressed me—without my consent
My avatars were cartoonishly pornified, while my male colleagues got to be astronauts, explorers, and inventors.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.