Controls & Actuation

The “Controls & Actuation” section provides a detailed guide to implementing and understanding a range of actuation and control methodologies essential for robotics and automation. Topics span from high-level motion planning to low-level motor controllers, helping engineers bridge the gap between conceptual design and physical motion. The section includes insights into both theoretical foundations and practical implementations.

Key Subsections and Highlights

• Drive-by-wire Conversion for Autonomous Vehicles Explains the principles and types of drive-by-wire systems, including throttle-by-wire, brake-by-wire, and steer-by-wire, and their role in modern autonomous vehicles.

• Linear Actuator Resources and Quick Reference A comprehensive overview of linear actuation systems, covering linear guides, belt drives, screw systems, and rack-and-pinion setups.

• Model Predictive Control Introduction and Setup Discusses Model Predictive Control (MPC), its benefits, and implementation in robotics for handling constraints in multi-input, multi-output systems.

• Motor Controller with Feedback Introduces motor controllers with encoder feedback, highlighting the Pololu Jrk 21v3 USB Motor Controller as an example.

• MoveIt Motion Planning and HEBI Actuator Setup and Integration Outlines using MoveIt in ROS for robotic motion planning and integrating it with HEBI actuators for hardware execution.

• PID Control on Arduino Explains implementing PID control on Arduino platforms, including tips for tuning and integrating Kalman filters for noisy sensors.

• Pure-Pursuit Based Controller for Skid Steering Robots Covers the Pure-Pursuit algorithm for trajectory tracking in skid-steering robots, including implementation steps and constraints.

• Task Prioritization Control for Advanced Manipulator Control Details task prioritization control for robotic manipulators to manage redundant degrees of freedom and prioritize multiple simultaneous tasks.

• Using ULN 2003A as a Motor Controller Explains how the ULN 2003A Darlington Array can be used as a motor controller for low-power motors and relays.

• Vedder Open-Source Electronic Speed Controller Highlights features and advantages of the Vedder ESC, an open-source electronic speed controller for brushless DC motors.

Resources

• Drive-by-wire System Overview
• Linear Motion Components - Misumi
• Model Predictive Control - MATLAB Guide
• Pololu Jrk 21v3 USB Motor Controller
• MoveIt Tutorials for ROS
• Arduino PID Library
• Task Priority Control - Robotics Journal
• Pure-Pursuit Algorithm Reference
• ULN 2003A Documentation
• Vedder ESC Project