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30

I'm posting this as an answer because it is the answer. You can't. As @BendingUnit22 mentions, you are attempting "open loop" control. Noise and variations will mean that your robot will never drive a perfectly straight line. The motors could have different winding resistances (different drive currents/torque), the wheels could be different sizes, the ...

18

In theory, you're correct. But in practice, slight differences between the two motors will make them fight each other instead of working in perfect harmony: Even the smallest mismatch in wire tolerances, lengths etc. will create different back emf characteristics due to different impedances. So both will work separately, but the actual ...

11

What Ians answer says about the two motors fighting is true however, I wouldn't go as far to say that you can never put two motors together for more power. In general if the two motors are identical and you are hooking them up and controlling them identically then you can probably get away with it but I would expect some wasted energy and thus extra heat ...

10

There are too much of types to someone describe. I think a simple research will help you. Reading the other responses I will put something, to put things like they are. Servo-motor Near any motor can be a servo motor or not. That means a brushed-motor, brush-less motor, stepper-motor (that is a brush-less motor) can be a servo-motor or not. Servo-motors have ...

9

I believe this blog has at least part of the answer to your question. Brushless gimbal motor vs. Brushless Motor vs. Servo A user here described the comparison as: A brushless gimbal motor is a regular brushless motor but wound for very low speed (ie lots of turns of thin wire) and many do indeed have more poles. Another post continues: They are ...

8

Gearboxes are probably your best bet if you never want to go fast. You may be able to make it work better if you give it pulsed power (PWM in a way, but pulsed at a speed low enough that the motor actually gets going and then slows down each time. See Controlling Motors in the Presence of Friction and Backlash for details on the technique. You can almost ...

8

This is a standard dynamics problem. Let's use this figure I drew: Some definitions: \begin{align} m & \mbox{, the mass of the vehicle in kg.} \\ \mu_{\mbox{rolling}} & \mbox{, the rolling friction coefficient of your tires.} \\ \theta & \mbox{, the incline of the plane in radians.}\\ g & \mbox{, the gravitational constant, 9.81 } m/s^2 \... 8 How quickly do you want to go from stopped to 10rpm? This will define your angular acceleration. Regarding calculations, first you should convert to standard units, so meters instead of centimeters and radians per second instead of revolutions per minute: \omega_{\mbox{rad/s}} = N_{\mbox{rpm}}*\frac{2\pi}{60} \\ \omega_{\mbox{rad/s}} = N_{\mbox{rpm}}*0....

7

While the answer by freeman01in references a useful presentation (alternative source) on the practical application aspect of your question, it is probably worth answering the specific question in the title too, in terms of first principles. From the Wikipedia Power page: In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. The ...

7

Keep in mind that "heavier" is not quite the term you're looking for. You should be trimming your SeaPerch to be neutrally buoyant, so unless the new payload creates significantly more drag than your old one, your existing motors should work fine (just with decreased acceleration in response to the increased mass). The answer to the question of torque vs ...

7

If this is true linear motion (non-rotational) then you will need some sort of a pivoting linkage in between the two units to transfer one motion to the other. Something like this would probably work: As the lower link moves vertically, it rotates the red gear which in turn pushes the second link horizontally. However, given that your image shows more of a ...

7

Take a look at a kids "spincast" fishing reel and rod. We built one in 2008 (still works, rain, snow and all!) using a automobile door lock solenoid to operate the "thumb release" and an automobile power window motor (PWM & MOSFET) via rubber hose driveline to operate the retract. Choice of MCU is yours, but we've since added spooky lights, MP3 with ...

7

Let's try and clear things up a little bit... "RC Servo" motors These can be found in radio controlled cars and airplanes to e.g. turn the wheel or actuate various controls in the airplane. They are pretty cheap brushed DC motors, with gears and some sort of crude feedback mechanism. They typically convert an input voltage into a position within a given ...

7

Your calculation of about 80 N⋅m torque for lifting 8 kg with a 1 m lever arm is ok; more precisely, the number is 8 kg ⋅ 9.81 m/s² ⋅ 1 m = 78.48 N⋅m. As mentioned in other answers, you will need to scale up to account for gear inefficiency. A simple calculation based on work shows that the Banebots RS-550 DC motor mentioned in the question is not powerful ...

7

If you have some budget for your project, both Maxon and Faulhaber have good DC motors and motor-gearhead combinations. Maxon publishes a nice set of formulas and background theory on electric motors. When it comes to getting the maximum performance out of motors, thermal issues are the main factor. One starts asking questions like: What's the actual duty ...

7

The core reason for choosing harmonic drives is desire for zero backlash. Moreover, regarding mass and size, they become more beneficial for higher gear ratios as their size and mass do not scale for higher ratios. More specifically, they take up very little axial space and use only one stage of reduction. They are beneficial for high precision tasks and ...

7

Your expectations are rather aggressive for a DC motor. First - 40Nm (350in-lbs) is A LOT of torque! Ex: A max rated torque for 1/4-20 bolt is only 75 in-lb (8.5Nm). Second - The mechanical power of a motor results from RPM*Torque. 40Nm*100rpm is 0.56hp (420W at 100% efficiency). That is A LOT, about 1/2 of what today's high end cordless drills can do. ...

6

There are numerous options that could/should work here. As mentioned by Elias, an IR sender/receiver is a good choice. This is similar to a "break beam" sensor. Essentially, when the beam of light between the transmitter and receiver is broken, the controller knows to do something about it. Similar to this would be an IR distance sensor, which records the ...

6

A good presentation on how to size your motors for a mobile robot is Sizing Electric Motors for Mobile Robotics from the Central Illinois Robotics Club. The general procedure outlined there includes the following steps: Step One: Determine total applied force at worst case Step Two: Calculate power requirement Step Three: Calculate torque and speed ...

6

It's possible that this isn't working because you have blown your transistor. There are a couple of things which could have blown it: No resistor to limit the base current No diode to protect against back EMF from the motor So you should add a base resistor, and a flyback diode. I always like to add an LED to the Arduino's output too, so that I can see ...

6

Your hardware configuration sounds wrong... your trying to provide all the drive current from the arduino Given your description, your using a bipolar (NPN or PNP) transistor, I'd wire up as: Base: To arduino Collector: Motor -ve (motor +ve to Vcc) Emmitter: Ground Alternatively: Base: To arduino Collector: Vcc Emmitter: Motor +ve (motor -ve to Ground) ...

6

I'm not familiar with that platform. But in general, no, you do not need separate batteries for each motor. Also in general, if you need 2-7.5V for each motor, then you probably want one honkin' big battery that puts out 7.5V or slightly more. You could use a 12V battery and take care with your drive commands to never give the motors over 7.5V. Only if ...

6

I think the term you're looking for is outrunner (vs inrunner): This type of motor spins its outer shell around its windings [...] Outrunners spin much slower than their inrunner counterparts with their more traditional layout (though still considerably faster than ferrite motors) while producing far more torque. This makes an outrunner an ...

6

Question 1: If you are satisfied with your robots stopping distance, than you don't need electronic braking. With a heavier or faster robot, its quite useful. The larger the machine, the more inertia becomes a important design factor. For example, a form of electronic braking is used by open-pit mining dump trucks. Ordinary dump trucks, being much smaller, ...

6

It is called a slip ring. It works the same as a brushed motor. See here for a robotic oriented one. Larger versions handle power, and cost more. Also near field technologies such as those used to wirelessly charge your electric toothbrush, and more recent wireless cell phone chargers, are potential solutions

6

Since the open-closed loop issue is already mentioned, I will give a comment to the "I once tried to run a dc-motor without a load". Yes you might damage your motor with this but you can also damage or destroy your motor with a load. The destruction is coming from the current and the resulting temperature. If there is no smoke and some obvious smell coming ...

6

20kg is a mass. It makes a force on Earth (20*9.81 = 196N), but that's not a torque. Motors make torque - what is your maximum torque specification? Once you know how much torque you need (that will be based on the load, gearbox, wheel/pulley diameter, friction and other losses, etc.) then you can ballpark feasibility by evaluating your required torque ...

6

As @szczepan mentions, the difference is one of feedback. There are many ways to get feedback regarding the motion of a dc motor. People implementing a control system will often put a mark on the motor's shaft, or attach a "flag" of masking tape, so that they can visually see the turning of the shaft. This helps to ensure the direction of motion is ...

5

All very good answers, but as a physics teacher I am concerned about some incorrect equivalences here that can only lead to confusion. One form of [energy][1], eg [chemical potential energy][2], can be converted into other forms of energy (eg [electric potential energy][3], [kinetic energy][4], [sound energy][5], [thermal energy][6]). In the [SI system][7],...

5

The opposite of an antagonist muscle is an agonist muscle, but that doesn't really answer your question. In nature, muscles are found in antagonistic pairs because they can only really contract, thus once a muscle is contracted, only an opposing muscle can effectively change the state back again (unless the muscle's natural state is opposite to that which ...

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