Robo2u

Motors, Actuation & Drives

The muscle of a robot: how motors turn current into torque, and the drives and actuators that move the joints.

  1. 01

    Servo Motors

    RC vs industrial vs smart serial servos: closed-loop control, cascaded PID, RMS-torque and inertia sizing, and the thermal failure modes datasheets hide.

  2. 02

    Brushless DC Motors (BLDC) for Robotics

    How BLDC motors turn current into torque: Kv vs Kt, six-step vs FOC, sensored vs sensorless, and how to spec one for a robot joint or drone.

  3. 03

    Brushed DC Motors for Robotics

    How brushed DC motors turn volts into torque: the R and Ke equations, the torque-speed line, PWM and H-bridge drive, brush life, and sizing math.

  4. 04

    Stepper Motors & Drivers

    How stepper motors and drivers work: microstepping, the torque-speed curve, NEMA frames, A4988 vs Trinamic TMC, closed-loop steppers, and honest sizing.

  5. 05

    Robot Actuators: Electric, Hydraulic & Pneumatic

    Compare electric, hydraulic, pneumatic, SEA, QDD, and soft robot actuators with real power and force-density numbers, equations, and a selection cheat-sheet.

  6. 06

    Motor Controllers & Field-Oriented Control (FOC)

    Field-Oriented Control from the power stage up: Clarke/Park math, the control cascade, tuning, sensorless observers, and picking ODrive vs Moteus vs VESC.

  7. 07

    Power Electronics & Motor Drives

    The power stage that turns a battery into three-phase motor current: inverters, gate drivers, SiC vs GaN, PWM, losses, and thermal sizing.

  8. 08

    Pneumatics for Robotics

    How compressed air moves robots: the circuit, force = pressure x area, Cv/Kv valve sizing, cylinders, vacuum and pneumatic grippers, with worked math.

  9. 09

    Hydraulics for Robotics

    How hydraulic power makes extreme force density: pumps, servo valves, cylinders, force = pressure x area, and why robotics is drifting electric.