Anti-Cogging Software Approach Makes Motors Smoother for Robotics
Smooth motion is critical to robotic applications like haptics or those requiring high-precision force control. These systems are often direct-drive, so any torque ripple in the motor output must be minimal. Unfortunately, low inherent torque ripple motors are expensive. Researchers from the Modular Robotics Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania have come up with a software method to map and suppress torque ripple from cogging torque, so that low-cost motors can perform as well as expensive ones.