EDITORIAL
Motion control as a core capability
In 1994, we began building the Corporate Center Motion Control at maxon as a small team. We had already gained initial experience with controllers in the preceding years and our task was clear: not only to provide our customers with the right drive, but also to make motion in their applications easier to control. At first, we developed, sold and supported analog servo controllers. It soon became obvious that the future would be digital. maxon invested early in digital servo con trollers, embedded software, and graphical commissioning tools. This step brought us closer to our customers’ applications and opened up new possibilities in control engineering, parameteri zation, diagnostics, and software. We continued to learn – from successes, mistakes, and many conversations with customers. Over the years, this success gave rise to a center of expertise at maxon’s headquarters in Sachseln, closely linking electronics development, firmware, software, control engineering, and customer support. Questions from the market thus feed directly into development. The strategic importance of motion control continued to grow. Where individual components often took center stage in the past, the quality of the overall system is what matters today. Customers expect reliable solutions that are easy to integrate and remain avail able over the long term. Motion control brings the motor, gearhead, sensors, electronics, software, and application expertise together in a compelling drive solution. For maxon, the decisive strength increasingly lies in matching individual technologies to specific requirements. Motion control bridges the gap between products and our customers’ applications. It helps us assess technological developments at an early stage, apply innovations selectively and develop solutions that will also meet future requirements. This importance will continue to grow. Conventional micro controller miniaturization is reaching its limits. At the same time, multi-core architectures, specialized processors, connected systems, and artificial intelligence are opening up new possibilities. Taking advantage of them requires a deep understanding of systems and the ability to translate technology into tangible customer value. The journey continues – our ambition remains the same: to make motion more precise, safer, and easier for our customers to use. This publication shows how we are doing that in practice today.
Patrik Gnos, Director R&D Motion Control and Head of the Corporate Center Motion Control at maxon’s headquarters in Sachseln
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Motion Control
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