5 Ultralight construction: minimal weight ... ... despite a variety of components and functions Intelligently combined: the interaction of open- and closed-loop control systems enables the flying object to take nearly any orientation in space As a global manufacturer of pneumatic and electric automation technology, Festo’s core business is helping to shape the production and working environments of the future and offers its customers innovative solutions for the production systems of tomorrow and beyond. Intelligent products through digital refinement Networking figures large in the vision of production of the future. Centralised plant control will continue its evolutionary development and, at the same time, greater use will be made of the opportunities afforded by decentralised self-organisation. Tasks that are currently still performed by a central master computer will be taken over by components in the future. Individual workpieces will themselves determine what functions they need plants to provide. This digital refinement will give rise to increasingly intelligent products that can actively support the produc- tion process thanks to increased functionality – from energy autonomy through to condition monitoring – in the smallest of installation spaces. Highly integrated bionic model With the BionicOpter, Festo is illustrating how these aspects of integrating functions and miniaturisation can be realised. In addition, the remote-controlled dragonfly also demonstrates wireless real-time communication, the continuous exchange of information and the combination of different sensor evaluations as well as the identification of complex events and critical states. Festo’s integrated automation concept, based on the automa- tion platform CPX, is an approach that already offers a means of achieving this. The electrical terminal CPX for valve terminals offers more than just a means of linking the field and master control levels. It has diagnostic capabilities and can provide condition monitoring functions. Its individual modules already make it possible to integrate the actuation of pneumatic cylinders via the modular valve terminals MPA and VTSA with motion controllers for electric drives. It also offers integrated safety functions. This makes it possible to access diagnostic values, locate problems quickly and replace faulty modules.
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