A quick—as in a composite maximum speed of 7,500 mm/sec (the Z-axis moves at 2,000 mm/sec)—SCARA robot is being launched by the Control Systems Div. of Toshiba Machine Co., America (Elk Grove Village, IL; www.toshiba-machine.com). Well suited to assembly tasks as it provides a repeatability of +/-0.015 mm on the X- and Y-axes, the TH650 has an arm span of 650 mm. The maximum payload is 10 kg. The controller features a parallel processing capability that facilitates simultaneous processing of input and output signals during the robot operation—key when the arm is moving so quickly.