Once again this year - in Parma (Italy) on February 25 to be precise - operators are offered a date with innovation in industrial automation at the third edition of B&R Innovations Day. Technical presentations, live demos, illustrious guests from the world of research and industry and an entire dedicated exhibition area are the ingredients of this event, a formula that has already decreed the success of the previous editions.

The day will allow technical and production leaders to discuss the benefits that can be obtained by applying the latest generation automation technologies. A particular emphasis will be placed on performance, safety, productivity, start-up times and operating costs.

Live practical examples of how to use the latest technologies presented during the scientific seminar combined with the functioning demo stations in the exhibition space will give all visitors the chance to get first-hand experience of the concrete advantages that the current developments in automation will bring to their machinery.

The day will also feature the contributions from two acclaimed guests: Comau Robotics, who will present the entire range of robots integrated natively into the automation system, thanks partly to special mapp functions; and the LIAM lab, who will illustrate the results of a benchmark study on the software development process for the assessment of the new “mapp” technology which is revolutionizing the development of automation software. Thanks to a library of tested, ready-to-use modular function blocks, an application can be developed by simply selecting the functions desired from among the many available. After configuring the basic functions, which require no debugging, the system designer can concentrate fully on machine processes, applying the company’s know-how to provide added value in the final system. This new approach to creating software not only makes the system more reliable and easier to maintain, but also makes it possible to reduce development times by up to 67%.

Other technologies presented on Innovations Day include:

- motion control and Acopos P3: an important development in servo drives towards new standards of compactness and power density;

- industrial PCs and man-machine interfaces: Automation PC 2100 and Panel PC 2100, small, modular control and display units, provide high computing power and reliable control in an extremely small package that can be coupled with a screen of any size;

- integrated safety: the safety controllers in the X20 family with integrated I/O interface; drives such as the most recent Acopos P3 that offer numerous safety functions meeting applicable codes and standards thanks to Safe Limited Torque (SLT) and Remanent Safe Position (RSP) functionalities;

- advanced motion control algorithms which, in spite of their highly advanced design in terms of control capabilities, are presented by the B&R system in an accessible form, guiding the user in the choice of the proper configuration settings and simplifying use.