maxon reports a steady result for 2020.

Sachseln, Switzerland – The maxon Group based in Sachseln, Switzerland, succeeded in largely keeping its revenue stable in the demanding 2020 financial year, in spite of the difficult market conditions caused by the COVID-19 situation.

The revenue amounted to CHF 553.5 million, compared to CHF 567.8 million in the previous year. There were some revenue losses in the automotive and aviation sectors, however, maxon was able to largely compensate this with the huge demand for drives for precise laboratory automation and ventilators in the fight against the coronavirus. This quick pivot required a high degree of flexibility and pragmatism from the management and employees. Undeterred by all the crises of 2020, maxon invested CHF 50.3 million in new factories, machines and systems. The cash flow amounted to CHF 37.1 million, compared to CHF 44.9 million in the previous year. Worldwide, the maxon Group has 3,059 employees at nine production sites.   

“2020 was a rollercoaster ride like none we experienced before,” said Karl-Walter Braun, majority shareholder of the maxon Group. “In fact, it is our global presence and our international customers that are active in a wide range of markets and applications that enabled us to weather the pandemic.” Even during the shutdown, maxon managed to uphold the global supply chains. “This once again demonstrates the resilience of well-networked global value chains and a broad range of diversified contacts all over the world,” said Karl-Walter Braun.

The research & development (R&D) and sales departments in particular faced great challenges in the last year. “On the one hand, direct contact at the customer was impossible. On the other hand, direct contact with the suppliers, for detailed clarification of technical feasibility or delivery options, was difficult.” Around the world, maxon has some 330 employees in R&D and the company invests around CHF 35 million in this field.

Continued innovative strength

Even under the difficult conditions maxon faced, the company launched several new products in the field of precision drive technology. This includes micromotors for medical robots, but also multi-axis controllers for highly dynamic positioning tasks. A special highlight was the Mars expedition with the first excursions of the Perseverance rover, equipped with maxon BLDC motors, and the successful flights of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter, equipped with six maxon motors,” said Eugen Elmiger, CEO of the maxon Group. “All expectations regarding the length, altitude and duration of its flights have already been met.”

And down here on Earth, maxon exhibits continued innovative strength. For example, in the medical field, the company and one of its customers cooperated to develop a minimally invasive aorta pump, which helps cardiac patients to heal quickly. And in intralogistics, intelligent motion control solutions for AGVs (automated guided vehicles) are increasingly being used. In the past few months, the drive specialist also developed an innovation in the field of e-mobility: this summer, maxon presents the BIKEDRIVE Air, an light and invisible e-bike system that consists of mid-mounted motor, integrated battery and control element. It weighs only 3.5 kg and can be incorporated into elegant frames by bicycle manufacturers. The e-bike system will be available exclusively to bicycle manufacturers worldwide.

Looking ahead with confidence

maxon is satisfied with the current financial year. “Due to high-volume orders, the suppliers reached their capacity limits,” explained Eugen Elmiger. “The result is that we are experiencing supply shortages.” In the future, the company will continue its development as system supplier. “The customers should be able to get everything drive-related that they need for their products from a single source. This includes motors, gearheads, electronics, motor controllers and plugin solutions,” said Eugen Elmiger. “Additionally, we are pulling out all the stops to become the digital leader in drive technology.” 

maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

DC motors at high temperatures

The majority of DC motors have a maximum ambient temperature between 85⁰C and 100⁰C, and a maximum winding temperature between 100⁰C and 125⁰C. Why is this?

Firstly, the difference between ambient temperature and winding temperature. Input supply is divided into voltage (V) and current (A). The voltage determines the speed, and the current determines the torque. When the motor is in use, the current will generate heat in the winding. This means that when a motor is specified for operation at high ambient temperatures, it cannot be worked as hard as if it was at regular workshop temperatures; otherwise, it will burn out.

What are the problems associated with heat?

Inside the motor, there is a magnetic circuit generated by the permanent magnet and the electromagnet – the motor winding. Both the permanent magnet and the winding are affected by heat. The neodymium magnets start to demagnetise at around 160⁰C, and they become weaker. Unfortunately, cooling the motor does not reverse the effect; it is a permanent degradation. The winding is encased in an insulating varnish, which provides stability as well as insulation. As the temperature increases above 160⁰C, the varnish softens, and the winding can deform, resulting in rubbing which wears away the insulation and causes a short circuit and motor failure. Very high temperatures can cause the varnish and insulation to melt, again resulting in a short circuit. The results are always the same: the motor is ruined.

maxon high-temperature motors

Not surprisingly, in some environments where people want to use motors, the temperatures are higher, for example when drilling into the Earth’s core for oil, gas or geothermal energy, or in valve actuators on an aircraft engines. maxon has a range of DC motors designed for these environments. The brushless HD (Heavy Duty) range can operate in ambient temperatures of up to 200⁰C, with a maximum winding temperature of 240⁰C.

How do these motors operate in such high temperatures?

The magnets in the maxon HD motors are manufactured from samarium cobalt (SmCo). Samarium-cobalt rare earth magnets can reach much higher temperatures before they start to demagnetise. The insulation of the copper wire used in the winding also has a higher temperature rating. Finally, the impregnation varnish is rated to a much higher temperature, which ensures that the winding remains stable throughout the operating temperature range.

Why not make all motors capable of reaching higher temperatures?

It is not easy to manufacture a high-temperature motor; the enhanced insulation on the copper wire is very rigid, which makes it much more difficult to wind. It also doesn’t work with all winding patterns. Another reason is cost, more specialised materials cost more. Why would people want a more specialised, higher-priced motor for an application where it isn’t needed?

In high-volume applications, maxon can upgrade standard motors for projects where higher temperatures are needed, if there is no suitable motor in the limited HD range. maxon will investigate the feasibility of producing the winding and create a production-size batch of windings to ensure there is high enough yield from the wire. Finally, if the yield is sufficient, sample motors will be manufactured, and the technical specification validated.

What do you do when your application is pushing the ambient temperature boundaries?

Contact your maxon technical sales engineer. We are all trained to specify the right product for the right application in the right environment.

First, we will ask a series of questions about the application. What speed and torque are needed at the output?  What duty cycle will the motor see? What is your input supply? We then look at the environment, temperature, shock/vibration etc. We will also enquire about other restrictions, space envelope, mass etc. Once we have collected all the data, we start examining the possible options to provide a solution.

When there are high temperatures, we must carry out a thermal analysis to ensure the motor is not going to burn out in service. We analyse the speed and torque profile over the duty cycle, based on the specific ambient temperature. The maxon-developed software we use gives us crucial information, including the winding temperature. Is it reaching or passing the maximum winding temperature? Is there enough time in the duty cycle to allow it to cool down? After multiple cycles, is it remaining below the maximum winding temperature?

With our training and the tools available, we will only specify a solution we are confident will meet the requirements.

For more information contact maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

Bacteria: access denied.

Tiny DC motor systems for use in the human body have to be built in a clean environment, free of microbiological contamination. Welcome to the GMP cleanroom of maxon, where discipline and gelatin meet.

Amongst the hustle and bustle of the busy manufacturing facility at the DC motor specialist’s headquarters in picturesque Sachseln, Switzerland lies a world very different from the rest of the areas of the maxon Group. Recently opened, is a production area for DC motors to be used in medical applications. The particle concentration in the air is low and constantly monitored. This clean environment is usually perfectly adequate because DC motors for insulin pumps, medical dosing units, etc. do not have to be completely free of germs and bacteria.

However, applications in the field of high-tech medicine are another story altogether, especially when it comes to implantable drive systems. For these applications, assembly is being moved to the new GMP area (Good Manufacturing Practice). In this cleanroom class, not only the particle concentration, but also the microbiological contamination of surfaces and the air is measured and examined for traces of spores, bacteria, or fungi. This clinical environment places high demands on the ventilation technology, the instruments, and especially the people that spend time inside it.

People who work in this environment always have to observe the same strict processes and rules. The two production staff members, Albane Lloqanaj and Ruth Da Silva, put on special pants and tops that arrived vacuum-packed from a cleanroom laundry. These uniforms are made from high-tech materials and are anti-bacterial. The two staff members then put on special hygiene masks, hair nets, gloves, labcoats and antistatic shoes.

Additionally, they have to follow a six-step hygienic hand disinfection procedure and disinfect their hands for at least 30 seconds using skin-friendly disinfectant. Subsequently, the gloves are disinfected with pure alcohol that evaporates without leaving any residue. This ensures that neither particles nor germs can stick to the gloves. All these process steps occur in a defined order. Additionally, care has to be taken that no contaminated air enters the GMP room from the outside. To this end, three zones that are separated by automated airlocks have to be crossed. It is only possible to open one door at a time, because the further you go in, the higher the air pressure in the respective room becomes.

Inside the cleanroom itself, the staff have to be highly disciplined. For example, they are not allowed to touch their faces. And if they do, it must always be consciously, so that they can immediately disinfect their gloves again. “I like this kind of work very much, because it’s challenging, varied and responsible. No mistakes are allowed when our drives are being used for implantable systems”, says production staff member Albane Lloqanaj. This also requires an open approach to errors. Team leader Stefan Kathriner: “It’s important that we immediately alert each other if something looks strange or we suspect an error. Criticism is never personal, always objective.”

The effort involved in operating such a GMP environment is immense, which is why only a few special customer orders for implantable systems are processed there. In the past few years, the cleanroom specialists at maxon have learned a lot from these projects. Stefan Kathriner says, “We have comprehensive know-how and hope that we will be able to handle more customer orders of this kind in future.”

To ensure that the amount of germs or bacteria on the work surfaces or in the air does not exceed a certain threshold, maxon regularly conducts tests with a nutrient-rich gelatin. These so-called agar plates are pressed onto surfaces or left open around the room. The gelatin serves as breeding ground for micro organisms. After 72 hours in the incubator, it is possible to see with the naked eye whether there is contamination and how high it is. 

For further information contact maxon Group Australia Tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

DC motors from maxon take surveillance to the next level.

A revolution in concealed threat detection – making the world a safer place.

Radio Physics Solutions (RPS) is a small technology company based on the outskirts of Cambridge in the UK. This small, modest company works on leading-edge surveillance technology and has won several awards.

Threat detection at public venues is a serious issue. Current technology methods rely on scanners screening individuals in high traffic areas and shepherded in sections. This requires people to physically walk through scanning areas, in turn creating bottlenecks. RPS launched its latest fully automated product, Optracon™, which uses multiple sensors mounted remotely, to detect concealed mass casualty threats, hidden weapons, explosives and other dangerous objects, at distances of up to 30m.  A true sensor fusion solution, Optracon™ collects data from radar, video analytics, LiDAR, machine learning algorithms, and artificial intelligence to provide a digital understanding of how people group and flow. The technology is small and automatically scans uncontrolled crowded public spaces beyond just an area or building. With an extended perimeter, responders have more time to act.

DC motors from maxon supported RPS to take surveillance to the next level. The motor housing in Optracon™ is custom made to the technology. A brushless maxon EC frameless 45mm flat DC motor drives the barrel and the shaft connected to a mirror. A brushless EC 32mm flat DC motor with hall sensors rotates the mirror. The barrel creates the essential scanning pattern. The mirror moves in a spiralling motion with varying diameter, and the frameless DC motor allows the mechanism to move this way without needing a personalised product.

David Leonard, head of engineering at Radio Physics Solutions, said “maxon was the only supplier offering frameless DC motors in such a convenient way, where a small company like ours, who are really designing from the ground up, can engage directly with the manufacturer. This is invaluable. maxon products come supplied with all required documentation, which is exceptional. You get excellent technical support on the assembly, even sharing the pitfalls. maxon really wanted to make sure we had the right product to achieve what we wanted to achieve. This outstanding customer support, coupled with the performance and accuracy of the product, is exactly what we at Radio Physics were looking for.”

The Optracon™ technology is unique to security screening infrastructure and represents a paradigm shift in understanding and responding to concealed threat detection.

Radio Physics Solutions have numerous deployments globally, for applications such as border control and security at governmental and royal facilities.

For more information please call maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

When lives are at stake – switching to crisis mode.

The COVID-19 pandemic meant a lot of laboratories had to quickly increase their testing capability in 2020, and acquire additional devices for liquid handling. For maxon, this meant creating special medical express lines for orders. They were managed with a lot of hard work and close co-operation.

NTEGRA Biosciences develops and produces electronic pipettes and pipetting robots which have been used in a large number of laboratory processes relating to COVID-19. During the pandemic, the testing capacities of the laboratories have been pushed to their limits. INTEGRA had to act fast to cover the high demand for automated liquid handling instruments. DC motors and drive systems from maxon are used in the electronic pipettes. For maxon too, fast action was required in order to supply additional electric DC motors to the customer more quickly.

Stephan Hegetschweiler, sales engineer at maxon Switzerland, and Amir Mujkic, head of the Cylindrical EC motor production line in Switzerland, explained how they and their teams mastered the challenge.

What caused the impending bottleneck at INTEGRA?

Stephan Hegetschweiler: The orders from INTEGRA increased substantially already at the beginning of the year. But the bottleneck was not yet foreseeable at that stage. Then, in the middle of the first coronavirus wave in April, their purchasing manager contacted us. The demand for liquid handling devices had increased so sharply that there was an imminent risk of a production stop in INTEGRA’s device assembly due to a lack of materials. To head off that bottleneck, we took action immediately and switched to crisis management mode. After all, this was about saving lives.

And what kind of action did you take?

Amir Mujkic: We rescheduled all our ongoing orders at short notice, and freed up extra human resources for the EC-max DC motor production line. To keep the lead time for the express order as short as possible, it was very important to keep a close eye on our overall coordination and the information flow in the production process. Downstream departments, such as the final QA inspection and shipping, were informed in advance about the important orders.

What are the most important prerequisites for successful delivery and processing of orders like this?

Stephan Hegetschweiler: The best thing the members of the team can do is to communicate continuously. That means talking to people, analysing bottlenecks in detail, communicating your success, and just involving everyone who can successfully move the order forward. The rapid flow of information between maxon and INTEGRA was effective for the express order.

Amir Mujkic: An express order can come at any time, and our production staff know that too. So I know I can rely 100% on the flexibility of the staff. In these situations, there is always a high level of willingness to work beyond the usual working hours. Cooperation plays a very important role here. If the communication and processes in the team are right and everyone knows what their tasks are, then on-time delivery to the customer goes smoothly.

How can future bottlenecks be prevented for customers?

Stephan Hegetschweiler: With rush orders, it’s important that senior management gets involved too, so the customer knows that we take the problem very seriously. It’s also helpful if the customer submits more orders right from the start. In the case of this express order, we suggested to INTEGRA that we should produce and store a safety buffer of drives that they can then access in an emergency. Close collaboration with the customer and the transparent communication that goes with that helped us to process the order quickly, to the customer’s satisfaction.

maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

maxon Partners with Open-Source Champion Auterion to offer avionics that can change the industry.

DC motor specialist maxon – whose precision electric DC motors are aiding the autonomous helicopter Ingenuity and rover Perseverance to explore Mars – announced a partnership with Auterion, the company building an open and software-defined future for enterprise drone fleets.

maxon and Auterion have partnered up to create the most advanced, open ecosystem of avionics and motor integration in the drone industry. This combination and interaction of propulsion systems and flight computer / auto pilot joins maxon’s best-in-class brushless DC motors and Auterion’s module Skynode.

The implementation uses open-source standardisation that’s critical for the drone industry’s next phase of enterprise scaling and smooth workflow management. Across every user, open ecosystem integrations support component upgrades and mixed portfolios of small, medium and heavy-lift drones, carrying a wide variety of specialised payloads or cargo. Delivering maximum energy efficiency, flexibility, safety and performance by pursuing an optimal systems interplay between maxon’s high-precision DC motors, electronic speed controllers (ESC) and matching propellers connected to the complete Auterion platform.

The partnership will leverage both companies’ know-how to make drone operation, development and fleet management easy at dramatically reduced costs. The companies will explore long-term opportunities around propulsion systems and autopilot communication, data sharing and real-time monitoring.

Companies are turning to western-made options that are well-known and reliable for their open-source needs. “The partnership between Auterion and maxon provides access to the very best drone technology that also addresses impending federal legislation in the United States,” said Kevin Sartori, co-founder of Auterion. “We’re seeing utility companies and others that specifically require drone service providers to offer systems compliant with regulatory executive action. Ultimately, our open-source, software-defined ecosystem – built with outstanding partners like maxon – is what will instill greater trust in drone components and autonomous technologies.”

Eugen Elmiger, CEO of maxon Group, said, “With our motors in NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, we flew on Mars. Now we are focusing on drones on Earth, which will play an important role in the automated future. I am very pleased that we are entering into a cooperation with Auterion, sharing our knowledge and experience so that we can better serve customers in the dynamic drone market. Their expertise in drone software coupled with our 60 years of experience as a global motor and drive specialist will generate promising solutions for the future.”

With unique capabilities, unmatched expertise and a long, proven history of designing and developing high-precision electric DC motors and motion control modules, maxon is poised to make industry changing contributions to the drone market and the future of autonomous crafts.

Auterion’s expertise in developing complete drone software stacks comes from its unique experience building Pixhawk and shaping the PX4 autopilot software, which has become the most used open-source flight control system for autonomous aircraft in the world. Auterion’s Skynode, made in the U.S. and marking a next-generation advancement for the Pixhawk standard, supports all different types of airframes, versatile payloads controlled via an SDK, LTE cloud connectivity and advanced onboard computation and apps.

Sartori added, “This partnership marks a new phase in software-defined drones and open standardisation. Together with maxon, we’ll offer a complete set of components to build state-of-the-art drones that scale to meet enterprise needs.”

With proper integration, enhanced communication, easy-to-implement and high quality and safe products, drone development and fleet operation can be quicker, more efficient, economically viable and safer.

For more information visit: aerospace.maxongroup.com or click here

maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

Engineering DC motors for outer space.

Successful space missions require specialised equipment. Head of maxon Group’s SpaceLab, Robin Phillips spoke to Suzanne Deffree at Design News about how to get DC motors just right for space travel.

Designing space-ready DC motors is a meticulous and complex process. Engineers need to account for extreme temperature fluctuations that persist for days at a time while operating during drastic changes in atmospheric conditions, where rotor blades cut through significantly fewer air molecules than in Earth’s atmosphere, simply to maintain flight. Every component needs to accomplish numerous mission-critical tasks while also withstanding the harshest of conditions. A very high priority is placed on the DC motors and drives within the equipment.

maxon Group has more than 100 motors on Mars currently and over 20 years of experience working on successful missions to the Red Planet. Most recently, NASA launched the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which successfully took flight on April 16, hosting six specialised brushed DC motors from maxon.

On June 15 Robin Philips will be speaking at the event Virtual Engineering Days, a three-day online event for the global manufacturing community that looks at critical issues and trends affecting today’s engineers. Robin will address how to design reliable DC motors and drives that offer greater precision while operating in demanding and harsh environments.

Suzanne Deffree at Design News spoke with Phillips, who shared a sneak peek into what attendees can look forward to learning about during his talk.

As the head of the SpaceLab at maxon, you are heavily involved in projects that demand heavy modifications for use in space. Could you walk us through your role and how maxon is driving innovation in space exploration?

Robon Phillips: My role is to use the experience I have gathered over the years from previous projects and my general observations of how the space industry is evolving, defining the kinds of products we offer as solutions for our customers. This involves both the development of new or modified motor and gearbox designs as well as the processes needed to build them. I ensure all the SpaceLab products are designed to a similar standard and that the build quality matches our customers’ expectations. I think maxon’s most significant contribution to innovation in the space industry is our catalogue of “COTS space products.” For these, we have taken custom designs that we have developed for space agency applications (ESA, JPL, etc.) and then removed some of the customization, but retained the core modifications that enabled the designs to be qualified for the extreme environmental conditions and are now offering these at reasonable prices as catalogue products to the rest of the space industry. 

Recently, NASA sent a maxon drive system to space. What are the no-fail design requirements necessary for motors to properly function during the brutal lift-off conditions and the six-month-long journey through space?

Phillips: The requirements can be classified into two groups: 1) Environmental compatibility, which includes things like vibration and shock resistance for rocket launches but also, and more difficult to achieve, compatibility with the wide temperature ranges due to diurnal (day/night) cycling  2) quality requirements on all the production processes (both for our suppliers and us) that are needed to ensure to the maximum extent possible that the motors are correctly built.

What are the primary challenges design engineers face in this highly complex and mission-critical industry, and what approaches does maxon take to overcome them? 

Phillips: One of the biggest challenges is changing the mindset of the engineers designing these products. Most of the time, they will be working on industrial products where the aim is high quality but strongly emphasizes cost-efficient solutions since we are constantly under pressure to have the lowest possible sales prices. For space applications, since we are just a component supplier, the cost of our product is secondary as it is only a tiny fraction of the overall spacecraft cost. This means that things like the mass and dimensions and requirements for absolute reliability are much more important than the cost. This often leads to completely different design solutions – e.g. For an industrial solution, we might have two separate, easily producible components made out of different materials, which we then glue together.

For the space solution, we would worry about differential expansions of the differing materials and the reliability of the glued connection. This would lead us to design a single-piece part, which is much more expensive due to its complex shape. Getting the engineers to understand this difference and switch between the two mindsets depending on what project they are working on is the challenge. We generally tackle this by using the same design engineers or performing design reviews where an engineer with space product experience is involved.

You are a keynote speaker at the upcoming Virtual Engineering Days addressing “Motors in Space -To Mars and Beyond.” What are a few learnings attendees can expect to take away from your keynote address?

Phillips: I will be giving a review of the history of Mars exploration so that the context of motors and the rovers they propel can be understood. I will discuss some of the design issues that we face to explain why we can’t just use a standard industrial motor, then review how we use the experience gained in the Mars applications to develop lower-cost “space catalogue” motors for the wide variety of new space applications.

What excites you most about connecting with your community at the upcoming virtual event?

Phillips: As engineers, we are always most excited in learning about the applications our products are used in. I always say, somewhat “tongue in cheek,” that motors are boring: they are just a cylinder with a shaft that turns – it is the applications that make the work interesting. Of course, the internal details are interesting to those of us that work on them, but this is how we want the motors to remain for our customers: boring cylinders, but with a shaft that they can absolutely rely on to turn when they power the motor on!

maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

A next step in wearable robotics.

South Korean start-up company, Angel Robotics, focuses on wearable robots for rehabilitation, including robotic suits that allow people with complete paralysis of the lower extremities to walk.

At the global Cybathlon event in November 2020, the team from South Korea won both gold and bronze medals in the powered exoskeleton race. Contestants Byeonguk Kim and Juhyeon Lee crossed the finish line in 3 minutes 47 seconds and 5 minutes 51 seconds respectively and became the heroes of the event.

Notably, they were both from the Angel Robotics team. Angel Robotics had provided the two medallists with both material and moral support in keeping with the slogan “Robotics for better life”. Founded in 2017, Angel Robotics was started by Professor Kyoungchul Kong from the Mechanical Engineering department at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The company focuses on wearable robots for rehabilitation and health care.

At the first Cybathlon, Angel Robotics also won the bronze medal in an exoskeleton race using a maxon motor. The WalkON Suit used in the competition is a robot for people with complete paralysis of the lower extremities. For the second event, Angel Robotics’ main focus was on considerably reducing the weight perceived by the user to allow them to stand for extended periods while wearing the robot. The company also made sure that it was possible to cover a distance of at least 40 meters when continuously walking for 1 minute, and improved the suit to match the normal able-bodied walking speed of about 2 – 4 km/h. To date this is the fastest speed reported worldwide for people paralysed from the waist down. The maxon EC 22 DC motor and the ESCON Module 50/8 DC motor controller are used in the linear actuator of the robot’s ankle and help to instigate a smooth and natural movement for walking and overcoming obstacles.

The company has also developed other robots like the Angel Suit robotic walking aid designed to assist people with partial paralysis or the elderly with weak muscular strength. There also is Angel Legs M, a robotic medical rehabilitation device used in hospitals for rehabilitation treatment and training.

Angel Legs M is a robot for people with partial paralysis of the lower extremities who have problems walking. Sensors in the robot analyse the user’s movement and, when the need for support is detected, the robot provides appropriate strength. When the user lifts their leg, the weight of the leg is reduced, and when the foot touches the ground, supporting force is provided. The maxon EC 45 flat DC motor, MILE encoder, and the ESCON Module 50/8 controller implement the robot’s hip joint and knee joint movement and are used to provide smooth and meticulous supporting strength.

Angel Robotic’s senior researcher Byunghun Na (R&D team) had the following to say about maxon: “When it comes to wearable robots, the weight and size of the motor are very important considerations. The output is important, too, but in order to minimise the load on a user who may have limited strength and to make it easier to get in and out of the suit and to create an acceptable robot design, the motor drive has to be as light and small as possible. Among brushless DC motors for various purposes, maxon motors are light and small for their output and highly efficient. They are suitable for robots that are sensitive to size and weight. maxon has different kinds of DC motor groups and it is easy to choose a DC motor for the desired output. Since the stability and inner structure are excellent, we are able to increase user confidence in rehabilitation robots.

Given social factors like the increasing ageing population, wearable robots are set to become an essential robot technology for all of mankind, not only for the disabled. To achieve this, maxon is taking the lead in continuous product development and technological enhancement in service of a better life for everyone.

maxon motor Australia tel. +61 2 9457 7477.