Engineers at Roboteq have developed an ultra-low cost, lightweight AGV demonstrator based on a Utility Cart and inexpensive hub motors.  We call it RoboCart.     In the 21st Century, the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is utilized in nearly every industry, such as factory assembly, food delivery, warehouse inventory control, and in general manufacturing.  For many industries, th...

Every modern motor controller for Brushless motors now features Field Oriented Control (aka VectorDrive). But what is it exactly and how does it work? One way to figure this out is to look on Wikipedia, or most other articles on the subject on the internet. There, the explanation are complete and accurate but often filled with too much math formula to actually make practical sense of it. Yet, Fiel...

Resolvers are absolute angle sensors that use entirely passive transformer technology. Resolver offer reliability benefits over other technologies and are perfectly suited in extreme temperature, oily, dusty or even radio active environment. Resovers are now supported in all new and updated version of Roboteq's brushless motor controllers. Resolvers is an analog position sensor that is absolute ov...

When operating brushless DC motors, knowing in real-time, and with precision, the position of the rotor is a prequisite to best performance in sinusoidal commutation. While numerous sensor techniques exist and are supported by Roboteq, Synchronous Serial Interface (SSI) is by far the best at is provides an absolute position with great resolution at very fast update rates. Synchronous Serial Interf...

An automated guided vehicle (AGV) can be built with as little as two Roboteq components: An MGS1600 magnetic guide sensor, and one of the many dual channel motor controllers available in Roboteq’s catalog. This application note will use a Roboteq MDC2230 dual channel controller, however the techniques described are identical for all other controller models.

A Push Scooter is definitely a high volume consumer item requiring a dedicated motor controller and battery system. Before redesigning the controller and supporting electronics to fit it nicely into the scooter's base, an off the shelf Roboteq MBL1660 single channel motor controller was used to test and validate some innovative ideas. Unlike all other electrical push scooters, this one does not ha...

See how to build an omnidirectional robot with just two Roboteq dual channel DC motor controllers to independently drive four mecanum wheels. The two controllers operate as a single four channel drive over a CAN network.

This article show step by step how to use Roboteq's motor controllers along with an Intel Atom low power motherboard to build a Wireless LAN remotely operated Robot platform.

Motors become generators when forced to turn while no or reduced power is applied. This phenomenon brings interesting benefits in terms of energy efficiency but it also introduces challenges in system design. Understanding the physics and implications of regeneration is critical in many applications.

Max Amps is one of the most important criteria when selecting a motor controller. Different vendors use different approaches when rating their products making comparison difficult. Here is how you can sort things out.

One of the most interesting features of electric motors when used in drive train application is that they can also behave as generators, and thus recharge the vehicle's battery while braking. Roboteq's motor controllers can easily be programmed to take advantage of this characteristic in a controlled manner.

RoboCAN is a Roboteq proprietary meshed networking scheme allowing multiple Roboteq motor controllers to operate together as a single system. This protocol is extremely simple and lean, yet practically limitless in its abilities. It is the preferred protocol to use by user who just wish to make multiple controllers work together with the minimal effort. In RoboCAN, every controller can send comman...

Roboteq has donated a Dual Channel motor controller to the builders of Monster Garage® on the Discovery Channel. Monster Garage is a popular TV show where a contesting team must convert an ordinary car into an "extraordinary machine" within 4 days a and a limited budget.     Important Warning and Disclaimer Remote controlling or operating semi/fully autonomous full-size gasoline powered ...