Shane Collins often hears people say that there aren’t any additive manufacturing standards. This is frustrating because he’s worked on additive standards for more than 10 years and there are dozens out now.

In management literature you will often encounter the concept of a best practice. However, until recently no method was available to assess a best practice. 

In Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) there has been a long-standing conflict between the worlds of specification and measurement. The goal of specification is to ensure that components will function; the goal of measurement is to ensure that manufactured components meet those functional requirements. 

Collaborative robots, or cobots, help humans and robots work together safely. Small, medium and large companies are increasingly choosing these human-friendly versions over traditional industrial robots, which are complex to use and are typically relegated to safety cages. 

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning are interrelated concepts involved with computer-based learning from vast amounts of data – and then making predictions based on that information. This article will show how these technologies can provide good alternatives to traditional image processing, and how software works to make this happen. 

A smart sensor is simply a sensor that can communicate to provide real-time diagnostic data and adapt based on that data. The data can be used to optimize a system, reducing costly downtime and increasing quality. 

Cylindrical ring gages have a number of inspection purposes. They are used as Go/No-Go gages to inspect the outside diameter of a shaft or rod. They are masters for dial bore gages, internal micrometers and coordinate measuring machines (CMMs).