Industries
Motion control components by industry
Each industry guide covers the machinery, the demands it puts on motion components, how to specify slip rings, actuators, motors, gearing, feedback and drives for it, and the series that fit, with a spec builder set up for that industry.
Robotics and automation
Robotics and cobots
A robot or cobot joint is a tightly packed module: a frameless motor, a strain-wave gear, an encoder on each side of the gear, a fail-safe brake and a compact drive, all around a hollow centre for cables.
AGVs, AMRs and intralogistics
Mobile robots run everything from a 24 V or 48 V battery, so pick low-voltage servo wheel drives sized for the worst combination of payload, acceleration and floor gradient, then check traction, brake holding and run time.
Semiconductor and electronics
Semiconductor, electronics assembly and inspection machines earn their money in move-and-settle time, so use direct-drive linear and rotary motors with fine optical encoders and stiff mechanics.
Test and measurement
Test and measurement machines need motion that is repeatable, measurable and traceable: actuators that follow a programmed load or waveform, feedback finer than the result you report, and data synchronised with motion.
AI robotics and automation
AI-enabled equipment still needs a defined mechanical duty, a reliable control interface and a clear division between supervisory intelligence and machine control.
Manufacturing and process
Packaging and food
Packaging and food machines replace mechanical cams and line shafts with servo axes so formats change from a recipe, not a toolkit.
Pharmaceutical
Pharmaceutical machines need fast, repeatable servo motion that can be cleaned, contained and validated.
Automotive and EV manufacturing
Automotive and EV lines use electric servo actuators for spot welding, clinching and press-fitting, servo motors and linear motors for handling and battery cell stacking, and safety-rated drives on every axis.
Machine tools and CNC
CNC machine tools need stiff, accurate axes: servo motors or linear motors on the feeds, torque motors on rotary and tilt tables, and linear and angle encoders that measure the slide and table directly.
Metal forming, fabrication and welding
Metal forming and fabrication machines need high force or torque with controlled motion: roller-screw actuators and servo presses for pressing and punching, servo motors on feeds, benders and roll formers, high-torque gearboxes on weld positioners, and slip rings that carry weld current and signals across rotating axes.
Plastics, rubber and tyre
Plastics and rubber machines are moving from hydraulics to servo-electric drive: roller-screw actuators and servo motors on injection, clamp, ejector and thermoforming axes, high-torque gearboxes on extruder and winder drives, and slip rings on rotating blow-moulding wheels and winders.
Printing and converting
Modern printing and converting machines are shaftless: every print unit, roller and cutter has its own servo motor, synchronised by an electronic line shaft, with high-resolution encoders holding register to hundredths of a millimetre.
Textile machinery
Textile machines are many-axis machines: each winding position, yarn feeder or needle bed has its own small motor, and the hardest axis is usually the traverse, which reverses many times a second.
Woodworking and sawmills
Sawmills and woodworking plants are replacing hydraulic cylinders with electric rod actuators on saw blade, fence and roller positioning, gaining accuracy and removing leaks, while CNC routers, panel saws and flying cut-off saws run on servo motors and synchronised motion control.
AI data-centre cooling
For AI and high-performance computing facilities, define the cooling valve duty, control interface and required failure response before comparing actuator products.
HVAC and ventilation actuation
Distinguish a water-side valve duty from an air-side damper duty, then specify the mechanism, control signal and installation requirements.
Utility EVs and electrification
Vehicle electrification enquiries need continuous and peak duty, cooling, supply and integration requirements alongside a motor power figure.
Industrial process valve automation
Identify the installed valve, operating duty and control requirements, then compare actuator configurations and the complete supply proposal.
Defence and security
Defence and security
Defence motion components are ordinary motors, slip rings, encoders and actuators built and proven for a harsher, longer life: wider temperature, shock and vibration, tighter EMC, military vehicle or ship power, and supply that must last for decades.
Drones and UAVs
On a UAV every gram and every watt is paid for in flight time, so size propulsion motors from manufacturer thrust test data at your real hover point, and design gimbals and payload axes around low mass, low cogging and clean feedback.
Military drones and UAVs
Military UAV motion parts must meet the same gram-by-gram mass budget as commercial drones, and also pass a tailored MIL-STD-810 and MIL-STD-461 programme on a 28 V airframe supply.
Military underwater drones (UUV)
Military UUVs need the same pressure-tolerant motion parts as scientific AUVs, specified for longer missions, higher reliability and defence qualification.
Security and CCTV
Civil security equipment depends on small, reliable motion parts: PTZ cameras need a slip ring for endless pan plus pan and tilt motors and encoders accurate to a few hundredths of a degree, CT baggage scanners need large-bore slip rings, and doors, locks and barriers need compact motors and actuators that work for years outdoors.
Aerospace, space and marine
Aerospace and aviation
Aerospace motion splits into two jobs: equipment that flies, where weight, temperature range, fault tolerance and DO-160G qualification drive every choice, and the ground test rigs and assembly cells that prove and build it.
Space
Space mechanisms run slowly, in vacuum, across wide temperature swings, for 12–15 years without maintenance, so lubrication, outgassing and torque margin decide the design more than speed or power.
Satcom and antenna positioners
Start from the beamwidth: a large dish at Ka-band leaves a pointing budget of only a few hundredths of a degree, and backlash, encoder error, structural deflection and wind all have to fit inside it.
Marine and offshore
Marine and offshore motion parts must survive salt, water, vibration and, on many decks, explosive atmospheres: slip rings carry power, fibre and data through crane slews, cable reels, radar and FPSO turret swivels, while sealed actuators, motors, encoders and gearboxes drive deck machinery.
Subsea ROVs and AUVs
Subsea motion components must survive pressure first and seawater second: either keep them dry in a one-atmosphere housing rated for the depth, or fill them with oil and pressure-compensate them so they work at any depth.
Energy and heavy industry
Renewable energy
Renewable energy machines run unattended for decades in wind, salt and temperature extremes, and every service visit is expensive.
Oil and gas
Oil and gas motion components are chosen by hazardous-area certification first and performance second: a choke actuator, motor or slip ring in Zone 1 must carry ATEX, UKEX or IECEx certification for the right equipment category, gas group and temperature class, such as Ex db IIB T4 Gb.
Mining and construction
Mining and construction machines need motion components that survive dust, water jets, shock and −40 °C starts while running from a 12/24 V battery or a site supply.
Lifts, cranes and hoists
Lifts, cranes and hoists move people and heavy loads, so their motion components are chosen around safety rules first: EN 81-20 for lift doors and car movement, EN 81-41 for platform lifts, ISO 4301 duty classes for crane mechanisms, and LOLER examinations in service.
Rail
Motion components on a train have to meet rolling-stock rules before anything else: EN 50155 for the electronics and supply, EN 61373 for shock and vibration by mounting position, EN 45545-2 for fire and EN 50121-3-2 for EMC.
Agriculture and agritech
Agricultural machinery is going electric one function at a time: a modern combine can carry more than a dozen electric linear actuators for spreaders, sieves and chutes, implements talk ISOBUS, and field robots run on battery-powered servo drives.
Water and wastewater valve automation
Water-asset automation starts with the installed valve, its operating requirements and the practical limits of power, access and communications at the site.
Remote irrigation and low-power actuation
For remote irrigation, specify the valve movement and energy budget alongside communications and maintenance access.
Medical and science
Medical and laboratory
Medical and lab machines need smooth, quiet, low-cogging motion that the device maker can qualify inside its own safety and quality system.
Optics, photonics and telescopes
Optical motion is about tiny, smooth, repeatable moves: lens groups positioned to a micrometre, stages scanning without vibration, telescope axes tracking to fractions of an arcsecond.
Entertainment and simulation
Stage, theatre and broadcast
Stage machinery is ordinary motion control built to a higher safety standard: point hoists, revolves, lifts and wagons use servo motors, gearboxes, dual brakes, redundant absolute encoders and slip rings, all designed under EN 17206 to be either twice as strong as they need to be or duplicated.
Theme parks and rides
Theme park motion is high-duty, show-critical machinery: animatronics and 4D seats run electric actuators and servo motors through millions of cycles a year, while carousels and observation wheels need slip rings to get power and data onto the rotating structure.
Motion simulation
A motion simulator converts vehicle accelerations into short, fast platform moves, so it needs actuators with high velocity, high acceleration and very smooth, quiet motion rather than large stroke.
Slip ring applications
Spec builder
Build your specification
Select the products and performance you need. Our UK engineering team can use your specification to help source the right components, pricing and supply options. See your summary before adding contact details.
Already know the part number? Use the quick enquiry form. You can configure a requirement below without registering.
- 1Products
- 2Performance
- 3Environment
- 4Volumes
- 5Your spec
What are you specifying?
Select everything you need. A motor, drive and gearbox can be specified together as one axis.
Engineer support
Tell us about your machine
Whatever the industry, send us what the axis has to do and the environment it works in. An experienced engineer will propose the components, normally within one working day.
- Reviewed by an engineer, not an autoresponder
- Like-for-like and better-fit alternatives
- Standard, modified and custom options
Prefer to configure it? Use the spec builder.
UK engineering input · A route to buying the right products
From your enquiry to products, delivery and support
Specify Motion helps turn a part number or application into a purchasing enquiry. We provide recommendations and connect your requirement with a relevant engineering or procurement provider for product selection, pricing, sourcing and supply.
- Tell us what you needSend a code or configure the application, quantities and timing.
- Reach a relevant providerAccess experienced UK engineering input and a suitable procurement route.
- Review the quotationYour provider confirms the products, price, compatibility checks and supply terms.
- Order with delivery and support agreedConfirm delivery, warranty and after-sales arrangements with the contracting provider.
You choose whether to proceed with the provider and should carry out your own checks. Website and introduction service terms.