The goal for this project is to make a low-cost but high-speed , very small and reliable laser range finder. The idea is to talk to a small camera, and obtain the laser line position and send out the data line by line in real-time.
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. We came up with a method to map and suppress torque ripple from cogging torque so low cost motors can perform as well as expensive ones, while using only a position sensor, which is already required for servo control. We call this compensation “Anticogging”.
In an effort to build one of the world’s smallest flying vehicles, we built a flying vehicle with only two moving parts connected by one motor. Because the vehicle cannot control its attitude with its one actuator, passive stability is a required trait, so we derived design requirements for making passively stable vehicles.