RoboWheel™
Hub motor for full-size domestic robots
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Do we really want robots with loud gearmotors? No, we want the simplicity, extreme reliability, and quiet operation of direct-drive brushless motors. So say we all! The RoboWheel is a large brushless hub motor (powered wheel) with a high-resolution internal quadrature encoder and exceptionally low cogging, intended for large domestic robots or similar projects needing mobility. This is not open source (explanation below).
Documentation & Files:
Related Products:
NearZero --
Brushless motor controller for robotics
Robotics Mobility Package
-- 2 Robowheels and 1 NearZero controller, discounted
Mounting Bracket
-- Bolt the RoboWheel to a horizontal surface
Personal note from the applications engineer:
Why is this not open source? Here's what happened:
When I decided I wanted to build large domestic robots I quickly
decided that such a thing should be driven by large, quiet,
reliable, brushless hub motors. I was surprised to see that I
couldn't buy these anywhere, so I decided to make my own.
I then thought "well I'll need a controller for that, dum dee
dum, let's see what's available", and was flabbergasted that I
couldn't find a controller that could do slow-motion precise
positioning of something like a hub motor that didn't cost many
hundreds of dollars. I then though, OK, the controller will have
to be the first product, and THEN the hub motor, and THEN the
full size robot. Flash forward a year or two and I finally had
the controller ready, and this is the NearZero.
Now I was ready to go back to the hub motor design which by then
I'd decided to call the RoboWheel. Some progress on this was
made even during the NearZero development and I'd prototyped the
wheel casing in aluminum to a relatively high level of
refinement, and had hand-wound more stators than I cared to.
Unfortunately (well, maybe fortunately), by this point I found
that the rest of the world had caught up and it was now possible
to import precisely the kind of hub motor I was envisioning for
the RoboWheel: High pole count, high winding resistance,
built-in encoder, and a mounting flange instead of an axle. The
motor I identified that meets these criteria is in fact stupidly
similar to my own prototype for the RoboWheel, so, realizing it
would be absurd to re-invent the wheel (haha!) I decided to slap
the 'ole Sky's Edge Logo on this, call it the RoboWheel, and
distribute it as a "white lable" product. The nice Chinese
manufacturer even did the laser engraving for me. So that's
that. It's not open source, but it's filling a need.
~Justine Haupt