Symatix researches and builds human–machine interfaces for precision manufacturing. Our first system — the Symatix Smart Controller — is a wireless smart pendant that delivers live machine data, full setup control, and a guided probing suite to the operator's hand, anywhere around the machine.
Symatix is an advanced technology research company. We study the interface between skilled operators and industrial machines — and we build the hardware, firmware, and control-system software to close the gap between them.
Modern CNC platforms concentrate capability at the console while the work happens at the spindle. Our research program focuses on moving trustworthy, safety-conscious control to where the operator actually stands: distributed embedded systems, supervised wireless transport for machine data, and interface design grounded in how machinists think and work.
The Smart Controller is a three-part system, engineered for retrofit: no wiring into the machine, no permanent modification, installed in minutes on the machine's existing controller.
A 5″ portrait touchscreen with dedicated physical controls — precision jog wheel with in-hub axis display, XY joystick with arm button, and feed & RPM override encoders. Every control a machinist reaches for mid-cut is real hardware; the screen is for information and setup.
A compact receiver on a USB port of the machine's controller. The proprietary low-latency protocol is delivery-confirmed, duplicate-protected, and continuously supervised at both ends.
A lightweight service integrating with the machine's existing control software. Live DRO, jogging, overrides, and probing — without tethering the operator to the console.
Live position streamed in real time, cycle start and feed hold at a tap, and feed/RPM overrides that follow a deliberate ownership model — green when the machine console owns the value, red when the pendant has explicitly claimed it. A full-width STOP bar lives on every screen; when a stop is active there is no way to miss it.
If the wireless stream is interrupted, the DRO greys out behind a NO LINK warning within moments. Stale data is never presented as live.
Single surface, bore/boss, pocket/web, corner/angle, tool setter, and calibration — each routine illustrated with a drawn pictogram and plain-language guidance. The operator taps the approach direction on a drawn top-view of the stylus: no G-code, no coordinate mental gymnastics.
Every routine runs a two-touch measurement cycle with automatic stylus-tip compensation. Measured repeatability on a production machine: 0.0001″ between cycles.
The full G54–G59 table with live values, plus tool and G92 context at a glance. Activate a work coordinate system, touch off X, Y, or Z, or split a dimension with the half function — every action guarded behind a deliberate hold-to-apply, so nothing changes on a stray tap.
One-tap quick actions — Z home, park, spindle stop, coolant, tool change — alongside four operator-programmed macro buttons, named and edited directly on the pendant and retained across power cycles. A full MDI line with history handles everything else.
Every command runs behind a hold-to-run guard, is validated against live machine state before motion, and reports its status in plain language: queued, running, done, or exactly why not.
Wireless machine control is only useful if it can be trusted. Every layer of the system is designed so that degraded conditions fail toward stillness, and the operator always knows the true state.
If the wireless stream is interrupted for more than half a second while motion is commanded, all pendant-commanded motion stops automatically. Signal loss can never leave an axis running.
The pendant continuously verifies the incoming data stream and replaces the DRO with a NO LINK warning within moments of losing it. Stale data is never shown as live.
Probe cycles require press-and-hold. Overrides must be explicitly claimed. The joystick stays inert until armed, and the jog wheel only moves an axis committed with a physical lock action.
Every probe command is validated against live machine state — stop status, homing, correct probe tool, probe signal health — before any motion is allowed. Failures report in plain language.
Commands and motion data are confirmed end-to-end with automatic retry and duplicate rejection. A noisy RF environment degrades gracefully instead of misbehaving.
The pendant's STOP control is a software convenience stop only. It does not connect to or alter the machine's safety circuits — the machine's hardwired E-stop chain remains the sole emergency stop.
FULL TECHNICAL DOCUMENT SET AVAILABLE TO QUALIFIED PARTNERS UNDER NDA.
The pendant is the first product of a larger research program: a complete, standalone CNC control. The Symatix operator interface on top, a Symatix-authored motion core underneath, and EtherCAT out the back to the drives, I/O, and probe.
A touch-first interface built around a live 3D machine view — your actual machine, moving in real time with the iron. G-code, DRO, jog, overrides, coolant, production counters, and tooling on one screen; probing, offsets, ATC, and diagnostics one tab away.
The whole machine flies the program before the spindle turns — the real interpreter's toolpath, remaps and all. Over-travel, rapids through uncut material, flute and holder depth are flagged; tap an issue to jump to it.
Picture-guided cycles for edges, corners, pockets, bosses, and skew — with an electronic tool setter, measurement history, and a preview of every cycle in the live view before it runs.
An assistant that sees the live machine — alarms, the loaded program, feeds & speeds — and answers grounded in this machine's state. Read-only by design: it advises, it never commands motion.
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