Soft Servo Systems is one of the first motion control companies to adapt a Panasonic Realtime Express™ high-speed servo network (an Ethernet-based, 100 Mbps network), and will unveil its new motion control products with Realtime Express at the SEMICON Japan 2006 trade show, the world's largest international exhibition of semiconductor equipment and materials. Panasonic Realtime Express allows the control of up to 32 axes of MINAS A4N servo drives at a 0.5 ms cycle time. Soft Servo Systems' new motion control technology will be exhibited in Panasonic's booth at SEMICON Japan 2006.

Exhibition Information:

SEMICON Japan 2006
Exhibitor: Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) Co., Ltd. Motor Company
Location: Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan
Hall: Hall 10
Booth Number: 10A-301
Dates: Wednesday, December 6 to Friday, December 8, 2006

Soft Servo Systems is happy to announce the release of Version 3 of ServoWorks CNC and SMP motion control products. These updated products come with many enhancements, including improved performance and many new features:

• PLC-axis control for all SMP general motion control products, ServoWorks S-120M and ServoWorks S-140M - for independent and individual axis control, programmed by LadderWorks PLC
• Custom G, M, S and T codes to be customized by users with macro and PLC functions
• Improved performance of Soft Servo Systems' three-dimensional dynamic look-ahead contour control (3D-DLACC) for super high-speed, high-precision milling and machining
  • Provides smoother and faster contour control
  • New algorithms, including linear acceleration/deceleration with two layer block rollover, exponential geometry smoothing, and more
• Includes support for several new servo platforms (in addition to our established VersioBus fiber-optics interface system, our IEEE 1394 FireWire interface system and our MECHATROLINK™ interface system):
  • The SSCNET interface system – built for SSCNET™ (3.5 ms cycle time) and SSCNET™ II (0.8 ms cycle time) synchronous serial communications from Mitsubishi Electric Automation.
  • FXI-40 – an inexpensive and compact PC interface that supports up to four axes of conventional analog-interfaced servo drives, and is the ideal choice for cost sensitive customers needing to control no more than four axes.
  • The Panasonic Realtime Express™ (RTEX) interface system – Ethernet-based, high-speed digital synchronous servo communications (100 Mbps) for MINAS A4N servo drive systems from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
• Includes support for the new generation of VersioBus hardware system - these new components are smaller, more reliable, and have improved noise resistance, power, capacity and performance.
  • The new DC-150 servo interface module, which replaces the DC-120, has a completely new form factor (similar in shape to a servo drive), plus it offers an additional power grounding point, output power for encoders, and 8 analog inputs. Click here for a comparison of the DC-120 and the DC-150.
  • There are three new VersioBus adapter boards:
    • The FP-80 VersioBus adapter board replaces the FP-60 and has a smaller form factor.
    • The FP-95 VersioBus adapter board replaces the FP-75 and has a smaller form factor.
    • The FP-104 VersioBus adapter board is a new adapter board with a PC104 stacking connector (previously unavailable).
    Click here for a comparison of all VersioBus adapter boards.
  • The IM-300 optional I/O module replaces the IM-200, has a smaller form factor than the IM-200, and provides wire entry screw terminals instead of spade terminals.
• Web-based registration – allows you to obtain your license code immediately with Internet access, for unimpeded software installation or software upgrades

NOTE: ServoWorks S-100T is not currently available for Version 3. All other products – all SMP products, ServoWorks MC-Quad, ServoWorks S-100M, ServoWorks S-120M and ServoWorks S-140M – are available for Version 3.