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Motor controller for robotics actuators

Compact circular motor controller PCBs with field-oriented control and CAN-FD for a family of dynamic robotics actuators in three form factors, including full CAN protocol documentation and an end-of-line test plan.

CustomerInternational robotics company

ScopeElectronics design (circular motor controller PCB) · Motor firmware (FOC, CAN/CAN-FD) · CAN protocol documentation · ICT/FCT end-of-line test plan · Integration support

Topics

Mechanical engineering
Electronics

Circular servo controller, top side: fully populated board with power stage, microcontroller and dual encoder interface

Starting point

The problem

The customer was developing dynamic robotics actuators in three form factors (XA2, XA4, XA5) and needed a custom motor controller for each. The PCBs must fit directly into the cylindrical actuator housing — circular layout, minimum footprint.

A supply voltage range of 18–70 VDC and a tight mechanical envelope set demanding requirements for power electronics and thermal management. Multiple actuators must be controlled via CAN-FD in a daisy-chain topology from a single host.

Alongside the hardware, the team needed complete CAN/CAN-FD protocol documentation and a production-grade ICT/FCT test plan for automated end-of-line testing of every board.

Solution

Our approach

Akrodyn developed two successive motor controller generations: MCL V2.1.1 for the XA4 and MCB3 V3.0.0 for the XA5 form factor. Both follow a circular PCB layout that mounts directly inside the actuator housing without modification.
The firmware implements field-oriented control with sensor fusion combining encoder and observer for electrical angle estimation. A power state machine provides defined startup sequencing, damping mode as a failsafe, and keep-alive supervision over CAN.
CAN and CAN-FD (up to 3 Mbps data rate, 1 Mbps nominal) were fully integrated: up to 127 addressable devices per bus, with configurable streaming of motor status, current and position data in real time.
Akrodyn authored the CAN/CAN-FD protocol documentation and maintained it over 31 versions alongside the customer. For series production, Akrodyn delivered an ICT/FCT test plan for automated end-of-line testing of every board.

Result

What came out of it

The customer received production-ready motor controllers for all three actuator form factors, integrating directly into their robotics platform.
The daisy-chain CAN-FD architecture enables simultaneous control of multiple actuators from a single host adapter, with sub-millisecond latency in control feedback.
The ICT/FCT concept provides the foundation for scalable series production without manual test effort. Akrodyn supported the customer on-call through the integration phase.

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