Blog Archives

Why non-backdrivability is a problem for Force Control

Posted on Jan 29, 2023 by enrikds — Leave a comment

Minimising the stiction will improve the resolution of your force controlled application.

Tagged with: Actuators, Backdrivability, friction, motors, non backdrivable, non-backdrivable, relfected inertia, Robots, stiction
Posted in General, Mechanical Design

Backdrivability on ball screws

Posted on Jan 1, 2021 by enrikds — 3 Comments

This article complements previous entry on general backdrivability exploring the conditions under which a ball screw is backdrivable. Power transmission screws—ball screws and lead screws—are typically used for converting rotary motion to linear motion. But when a load is applied axially…

Tagged with: Backdrivability, Ball screw, Lead screw, Mechanism
Posted in General, Mechanical Design, Robotic devices, Robotics

The most important elements of a robot

Posted on Sep 4, 2019 by enrikds — Leave a comment

A beginner roboticist should learn the basics of a few type of technologies and components before embarking himself in the design and construction of his own robot. I would say that the main areas one should be familiar with are:…

Tagged with: 3D printing, Actuators, controllers, electronics, gearboxes, manufacturing, motors, Robotics components, Sensors
Posted in General, Robotics

The most common places to shop for robotics components

Posted on Aug 31, 2019 by enrikds — Leave a comment

This time I would like to review the most used online shops to buy components for a robotic design. Some of them are more focused on the professional market and some others pay attention to the hobbyist. The two main…

Tagged with: Actuators, buying, cables, components, electronics, mechanical components, motors, purchasing, Robots, shopping, structural elements
Posted in Robotics

Best blogs and podcasts to stay tuned on the Robotics Industry

Posted on Aug 14, 2019 by enrikds — Leave a comment

Hi, I would like to come back to my blog by commenting on very useful resources for the roboticist. IEEE Spectrum: https://spectrum.ieee.org/ .The first one on the list. The IEEE is the world largest technical professional organization. They organise conferences,…

Tagged with: Blogs, Industry, Magazines, News, Podcasts
Posted in News, Robotics

Magnetic Encoders VS Optical Encoders

Posted on Mar 14, 2018 by enrikds — 1 Comment

Encoders, whether rotary or linear, absolute or incremental, typically use one of two measuring principles—optical or magnetic. While optical encoders were, in the past, the primary choice for high resolution applications, improvements in magnetic encoder technology now allow them to…

Tagged with: Actuators, Angle Measurement, Feedback, Magnetic Encoders, motors, Optical, Position Measurement, Robots
Posted in Robotics, Sensors

Complementary Encoder Signals to mitigate the electrical noise

Posted on Mar 12, 2018 by enrikds — Leave a comment

Electrical noise is a common problem that occurs during the transmission of an incremental encoder’s signal to the receiving electronics, especially when the cable lengths are very long. Stray electromagnetic fields or currents induce unwanted voltages into the signal. These…

Tagged with: A, B, Complementary, Electrical noise, Encoders, Feedback, motors, Noise, Noisy, Position, Sensor
Posted in Actuators, Robotics, Sensors

Optical Encoders in Brushless Servo Motors

Posted on Mar 9, 2018 by enrikds — Leave a comment

The trend towards wide scale use of Brushless Motors is being driven by manufacturing cost reductions, improved efficiencies, greater reliability, availability of improved drive electronics, and the availability of improved sensors for motor control. The brushless motors, independently whether they…

Tagged with: Angle, BLDC, Brushless, Conmutation, Encoders, Hall Effect, Measurement, motors, PMSM, Position, Resolvers, Sensors, Speed, Windings
Posted in Actuators, Robotics

A good robotic blog

Posted on Dec 7, 2017 by enrikds — 1 Comment

One of my mates is developing several projects related to robotics which are worth mentioning. In his blog, one of his last projects is the construction of an humanoid robot based on steppers.

Posted in Robotics

Backdrivability

Posted on Dec 5, 2017 by enrikds — Leave a comment

There is a trend in robotics towards the use of backdrivable actuators due to multiple reasons. One of them, is the need of sharing the environment with humans. Such a robot needs flexibility to adapt the differences between real environmental…

Tagged with: Backdrivability, Backdrivable, control, Force Control, Gearbox, Gears, Robotics, teleoperation
Posted in Robotics