Kyoto, Japan -- OMRON Corporation (TSE: 6645, ADR: OMRNY) today announced the development of its new NX series I/O and safety system. The products below will be exhibited at SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2012 to be held in Germany from November 27 to 29 and SEMICON Japan 2012 to be held from December 5 to 7^*2.

NX series I/O units (Scheduled for release in spring 2013)
NX series safety controllers (Scheduled for release in spring 2013)

The products are all fully compatible with the Sysmac automation platform*1 launched in July 2011. This is a new EtherCAT-compatible modular I/O system that allows sequence, motion, and safety control to be integrated into machine control systems.

The new NX series I/O system offers simple and flexible design for high-speed, high-precision motion control and safety control in an integrated engineering environment when used in conjunction with the NJ series machine automation controller and the automation software Sysmac Studio. This contributes to productivity improvements and assurance of safety conforming to international standards.

Machine designers are now required to design globally competitive production machinery for global manufacturing sites with systems appropriate for flexible production methods and quantities, and to shorten lead times.
Under such circumstances, the designers must design sequence, motion, and safety control simultaneously, while increasing their knowledge of machine design in order to conform to international safety standards, resulting in a heavy workload. Moreover, functionality and flexibility are required even in the safety control domain, and a system to ensure safety while maintaining productivity is expected. OMRON's new NX series I/O system was designed to meet these needs.

The NX series I/O system was developed based on the Sysmac concept:

"One Connection" enables the NJ series machine automation controller to be connected with safety control units and standard I/O units in one single EtherCAT system. This contributes to simple system construction and greater work efficiency.
"One Software" enables integrated programming for control systems including sequence, motion, and safety control with the Sysmac Studio automation engineering environment. This standardizes design assets and increases reusability, thereby significantly improving machine control design efficiency.

*1. Sysmac automation platform
Complete machine control through one software suite and one seamless connection with a variety of I/O devices. Machine and motion programming is fully compliant with IEC 61131-3, and the dedicated software suite features functions such as programming, motion designing, and network setting allowing easy control of all connected devices and freeing users to engage in further production innovation.
*2. The NX series will be exhibited in the EtherCAT Technology Group's booth.

OMRON Develops New NX Series Integrated I/O Safety System