We are very pleased to be able to officially welcome Sigma Plus to the Adept Scientific group of companies. Sigma Plus supply and support a broad range of technical software tools, including heavyweight statistical analysis and data visualisation software tool – STATGRAPHICS; multivariate data analysis package – SIMCA; Design of Experiments (DOE) tool – MODDE and industry standard calculations tool – Mathcad, to name but a few.

Just like Adept, Sigma Plus boasts an outstanding reputation for delivering technical excellence and customer service to their clients, and they’ll continue to operate under the same name from their existing offices in Paris and Toulouse, as an independent business unit within the Adept Scientific group.

By joining forces, not only will we be able to extend our reach into Europe (we now operate across 17 countries) and grow our product offering, our combined resources and expertise also mean customers will benefit from even stronger support and consultancy services, expanded training provision and unbeatable technical know-how.

If you have any questions, please contact Adept at your local office or contact the team at Sigma Plus.

Meanwhile, please take a few minutes to explore the brand-new Sigma Plus website.

2013 has been a busy year for us and one full of change. In the summer, not only did we launch our revamped and revived website, but we also introduced a brand new corporate logo! And as we embark upon 2014, we’ve no intention of slowing down. We’ve got big plans for this year and some interesting initiatives in the pipeline, so keep an eye on our website and make sure you are signed up for our email newsletters so you don’t miss out on any upcoming announcements.

We’re not the only ones who are looking ahead to what the future holds. Here are some timely technology trend-predicting blog posts you might find interesting:

5 tech trends for 2014 – PTC predict the cutting-edge technology that’s on the rise, featuring wearable tech like smart watches, 3D printing, smart TVs, using big data to target individuals and smart ‘connected’ products with the power to revolutionise cities.

2014 top tech to watch – IEEE Spectrum tells us which technologies will make headlines this year including a superfast wireless system, Chinese space launches, eerily silent electric race cars and the jet pack!

Adept Scientific recently donated two Sony AIBO dogs to The National Museum of Computing at Bletchly Park – home of the World’s first electronic computer. They might be just 14 years old, but that’s positively antique in computing technology terms! Named Spot and Rex, these cyber canines caused quite a stir when they were first bought in the summer of 1999 and became ‘office pets’ at the Adept Letchworth HQ. The interactive, ball-playing, tail-wagging, leg-cocking digital doggy duo were featured regularly on television and in the press at the time because they used state-of-the-art AI technology. There were only 5000 first generation AIBO dogs ever made and they went on sale only in the US and Japan. That makes them quite a rarity in the UK. Hence, they’re taking pride of place in the museum’s robotics display surrounded by a collage of press cuttings that any celebrity would be proud of.

Though Spot was mechanically complete, it didn’t actually work. Rex, on the other hand, still functioned but with a few glitches like an ‘arthritic’ leg and ‘Sleep Head Syndrome’ where he goes into sleep mode and won’t reactivate. The Museum team solved the limb issue by swapping one of Spot’s legs with Rex’s, though the sudden napping needs manual override using the sleep button on the front.

Rex gets the chance to show off to visitors occsionally under close supervision on special museum days and events like the recent visit from Doctor Who’s K9 (see photo) and he’s a big hit with the children who are interigued by his interactive antics.

If you’re passing Bletchley Park, why not pop in for a visit?
Refer to the Museum’s website for opening times and more information

Adept Scientific is pleased to welcome a new product to their comprehensive range of technical computing software tools – CircuitLogix from Logic Design Inc. – a powerful software program that converts your personal computer into a full-functioning electronics laboratory with thousands of components and readymade devices that are quickly and easily interconnected.

Instead of going to all the time, trouble and expense of building physical prototypes to test your circuit designs, you can create higher-performance boards, faster with CircuitLogix, as well as run different scenarios to gain better insight into your circuit’s behaviour.

Visit our CircuitLogix web pages to find out more.

Put CircuitLogix to the test. Download a free 30-day demo.

We recently partnered with a new company (Cores Electronic) being run by some very innovative former National Instruments guys. Their first product is the Tag4M (tag for me). It’s a standalone battery powered data acquisition device that transmits its data to the internet via Wi-Fi. As you’ll see from the picture it’s currently supplied without a case as we think that it’s main use will be initially by OEM’s who will want to put in there own box. We’ve not seen anything quite like this concept before, but we think it could have many applications where you need distributed easily configured data acquisition in an enviroment that has Wi-Fi.

Tag4M Devices

The device can be set up to measure almost anything as long as there is a sensor for it. You just set it up to communicate with an internet address of your choice and the data is then sent to you at an interval you can configure. Each Tag4M device has a unique ID so if you are sending the data from all the devices to one web server then the devices can be identified and the data properly categorised, logged and displayed. As the Tag4M developers are former National Instruments people you’ll not be surprised to learn that there are also drivers for configuring LabView to work with the Tag4M devices.

You can download a more detailed datasheet on the use of Tag4M tags to create Instrumentation Clouds from here.