In brief

• The US firm ActivMedia Robotics has teamed up with Canada`s RMT Robotics to develop what they say will be the first mobile robot designed for flexible manufacturing plants. Unlike existing AGVs (automatic guided vehicles), which follow standard, repeated paths, then new vehicle will be able to "map" a building and move anywhere within it. It is due to be released in June.

• A PC desktop toolbar that gives rapid access to engineering and scientific calculations, is available free from Motor Technology. The Motioneering Toolbar, developed by Danaher Motion, allows users to convert units, calculate inertias and material densities, and look up trigonometric functions. When not in use, the toolbar is hidden but appears at the click of the mouse button. The toolbar can be downloaded from www.motec.co.uk/nw_tools.htm

• The PLCopen task force which is developing a library of standard function blocks for motion control, has released version 0.99 of Part 2 of its library, which extends Part 1, published in 2001. Part 2 is intended to meet the needs of more users, especially in food and beverage packaging. PLCopen is seeking comments from users and suppliers before releasing the final version, probably in late 2004.