A New Approach to Laboratory Motor Control: MMCS the Modular Motor Control System

Many projects within the GRASP laboratory involve motion control via electric servo motors, for example robots, hands, camera mounts and tables. To date each project has been based on a unique hardware/software approach. This document discusses the development of a new modular, and host independent, motor control system, MMCS, for laboratory use. The background to the project and the development of the concept is traced. An important hardware component developed is a 2 axis control motor control board that can be plugged into an IBM PC bus or connected via an adaptor to a high performance workstation computer. To eliminate the need for detailed understanding of the hardware components, an abstract controller model is proposed. Software implementing this model has been developed in a device driver for the Unix operating system. However for those who need or wish to program at the hardware level, the manual describes in detail the various custom hardware components of the system.