£200 servo axes are `easy to program`

A small UK company has developed a 100W DC motor servo controller using a new method of programming which, it says, will allow people with no previous programming experience to set up complex motions and programs. Reading-based Microaxes is selling its controller, together with a brushed servo motor and the programming software, as a ready-to-run package costing £200 per axis.

Microaxes was formed in 2002 with the aim of producing low-cost servo drives that would be as easy for mechanical and electrical engineers to use as control engineers. The controllers are programmed using Windows software based on polynomial tables. Once the required motions have been planned and saved, the PC can be removed and the controller will operate independently from a 9-30V DC supply.

The 24/4 controller can be synchronised with other axes and has 16 I/O lines for inputs such as switches and encoders, and outputs such as relays and LEDs. Acceleration and deceleration are said to be "exceptionally smooth" and follow a 3-4-5 polynomial which "almost eliminates vibration and overshoot".