Embedded control down the years

Micro-Robotics, a Cambridge-based manufacturer of embedded control components celebrates its 21st anniversary this year.

During that time standard controllers from Micro-Robotics have been used in submarines, ships and helicopters, agricultural and horticultural machinery, environmental control systems, printing presses, security systems, satellite TV network controllers, steel forming presses, textile test equipment, milling machines, and waste disposal systems.

Micro-Robotics has always supplied a bespoke design service to optimise solutions for its customers and special systems have been developed for control cards, oil-head surveillance, medical equipment, laser display, puppet animation and a range of other applications.

Controllers from Micro-Robotics have also been used in an in-space experiment on board Challenger, in television and in the film industry by Jim Henson, of Muppets fame.

Henson commissioned Micro-Robotics to design a computer system that efficiently and effectively synthesised the actions and facial expressions of puppets, for which the company won an Academy Award in the 1991 Oscars for Scientific and Technical Achievement.

Throughout the 21 years, Micro-Robotics has adopted a policy of continued product development and is shortly to announce the availability of a new analogue I/O port that has up to 18-bit input resolution and 12-bit output resolution.

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