Roll on

As a lad the TV show Thunderbirds was a great influence on me, and I marvelled at the idea of being able to communicate with friends via my wristwatch — which of course carried a picture of the person I was talking to. Thirty years on and we are on the brink of commercially realising such technology.

Miniaturisation has a number of advantages. First, there is a saving on resources because products are lighter, more portable and cheaper to produce. Also, systems can travel faster and are more accurate as there is no requirement to accelerate/decelerate such masses.

Nanotechnology is a strong field of research, but for linear guidance systems anything under 15mm nominal rail width is deemed miniature.

Such systems minimise the friction generated by moving a load through a predefined or variable distance, thus reducing the power needed and heat produced through friction. Designs differ to accommodate different applications and the demands of the operating environment. This is especially true when the component in question is only millimetres in width or height.