Animatics - Integrated Motion Control. Animatics is the pioneer and recognized leader of integrated motion control. We are designers and manufacturers of highly innovative motion control products which include the award winning SmartMotor. The Smart Motor is a complete, compact and user friendly motion control system that integrates a brushless dc servo motor, motion controller, encoder and amplifier.

Enter the four commands below in the SmartMotor Terminal" window, following each command with a return, and you will see motion:

Commands	Comments
A=100	‘Set Acceleration
V=1000000	‘Set Velocity
P=1000000	‘Set Position
G	‘Start move

On power-up the motor defaults to position mode. Once Acceleration (A) and Velocity (V) are set, you can simply issue new Position (P) commands, followed by a Go (G) command to execute moves to new absolute locations. The motor doesn't instantly go to the programmed position, but follows a trajectory to get there. The trajectory is bound by the maximum Velocity and Acceleration commands. This results in a trapezoidal velocity profile, or a triangular profile if the maximum velocity is never met.

You can change Position, Velocity and Acceleration at any time during or between moves. The new parameters will only apply when a new G command is sent.

Command Set

Commands are grouped by function - with the following notations:

#	Integer number
exp	Expression or signed integer
var	Variable
com	Communication channel

A=exp Set absolute acceleration

Acceleration must be a positive integer within the range of 0 to 2,147,483,648. The default is zero forcing you to enter something to get motion. A typical value is 100. If left unchanged, while the motor is working, this value will not only determine acceleration but also deceleration which will form a triangular or trapezoidal velocity motion profile. This value can be changed at any time. The value set doesn't get acted upon until the next G command is sent.

If your motor has a 2000 count encoder (sizes 17 & 23), multiply your desired acceleration in rev/sec2 by 7.91 to arrive at the number to set A to. With a 4000 count encoder (sizes 34, 42 & 56) you will need to multiply by 15.82. These constants are a function of the motors PID rate. If you lower the PID rate, you must raise these constants proportionally. See The P.I.D. Filter" section of this manual for more information.

V=exp Set maximum permitted velocity

Use the V command to set a limit to what velocity the motor can accelerate to. That limit becomes the slew rate for all trajectory based motion whether in position mode or velocity mode. The value defaults to zero so it must be set before any motion can take place. The new value set does not take effect until the next G command is executed. If your motor has a 2000 count encoder (sizes 17 & 23), multiply your desired velocity in rev/sec by 32212 to arrive at the number to set V to. With a 4000 count encoder (sizes 34, 42 & 56) you will need to multiply by 64424. These constants are a function of the motors PID rate. If you lower the PID rate, you will need to raise these constants..

P=exp Set absolute position for move

The P= command allows the setting of an absolute end position. The number following is encoder counts and can be positive or negative. The end position can be set or changed at any time during or at the end of previous motions.

The following program illustrates how variables can be used to set motion values to real-world units and have the working values scaled for motor units.

a=100	‘Acceleration in rev/sec*sec
v=1	‘Velocity in rev/sec
p=100	‘Position in revs
GOSUB10	‘Initiate motion
END	‘End program
C10	‘Motion routine
A=a*8	‘Set Acceleration
V=v*32212	‘Set Velocity
P=p*2000	‘Set Position
G	‘Start move
RETURN	‘Return to call

D=exp Set relative distance for position move

The D= command will allow you to specify a relative distance, instead of an absolute position. The number following is encoder counts and can be positive or negative.

The relative distance will be added to the current position, either during or after a move. It is added to the desired position rather than the actual position so as to avoid the accumulation of small errors due to the fact that any servo motor is seldom exactly where it should be

G Go, start motion

The G command does more than just start motion. It can be used dynamically during motion to create elaborate profiles. Since the SmartMotor allows you to change Position, Velocity and Acceleration during motion, on-the-fly", the G command can be used to trigger the next profile at any time.

S Abruptly stop motion in progress

If the S command is issued while a move is in progress it will cause an immediate and abrupt stop with all the force the motor has to offer. After the stop, assuming there is no position error, the motor will still be servoing.

X Decelerate to stop

If the X command is issued while a move is in progress it will cause the motor to decelerate to a stop at the last entered A= value. When the motor comes to rest it will servo in place until commanded to move again.

O=exp Set/Reset origin to any position

The O= command (using the letter O, not the number zero) allows the host or program not just to declare the current position zero, but to declare it to be any position, positive or negative. The exact position to be re-declared is the ideal position, not the actual position which may be changing slightly due to hunting or variable loading.

OFF Turn motor servo off

The OFF command will stop the motor from servoing, much as a position error or limit fault would.

MP Position Mode

Position mode is the default mode of operation for the SmartMotor. If the mode were to be changed, however, the MP command would put it back into position mode. In position mode, the P# and D# commands will govern motion.

Binary Data Transfer

The ASCII based command string format, while convenient, is not the fastest way to communicate data. It can be burdensome when performing multi-axis contouring. For that reason a special binary format has been established for the communication of trajectory critical data such as Position, Velocity and Acceleration. These 32 bit parameters are sent as four bytes following a code byte that flags the data for a particular purpose. The code bytes are 252 for acceleration, 253 for velocity and 254 for position. As an example, the following byte values communicate A=52, V=-1 & P=2137483648.

A=52 252 000 000 000 052 032

V=-1 253 255 255 255 254 032

P=2137483648 254 127 255 255 255 032

For further expediency, the commands can be appended with the G command to start motion immediately. Two examples are as follows (the ASCII value for G is 71):

P=0 G 254 000 000 000 000 071 032

V=512 G 253 000 000 002 000 071 032

MV Velocity Mode

Velocity mode will allow continuous rotation of the motor shaft. In Velocity mode the programmed position using the P or the D commands is ignored. acceleration and velocity need to be specified using the A= and the V= commands. After a G command is issued, the motor will accelerate up to the programmed velocity and continue at that velocity indefinitely. In velocity mode as in Position mode, Velocity and Acceleration are changeable on-the-fly, at any time. Simply specify new values and enter another G command to trigger the change. In Velocity mode the velocity can be entered as a negative number, unlike in Position mode where the location of the target position determines velocity direction or sign. If the 32 bit register that holds position rolls over in velocity mode it will have no effect on the motion.

MT Torque Mode

In torque mode the motor shaft will simply apply a torque independent of position. The internal encoder tracking will still take place, and can be read by a host or program, but the value will be ignored for motion because the PID loop is inactive. To specify the amount of torque, use the T= command, followed by a number between -1023 and 1023.

T=exp Set torque value, -1023 to 1023

In torque mode, activated by the MT command, the actual torque value can be set with the T= command. The following number or variable must fall in the range between -1023 and 1023. The full scale value relates to full scale or maximum torque.

Brake commands
(where optional brake exists)

BRKRLS Brake release

BRKENG Brake engage

BRKSRV Release brake when servo active, engage break when inactive.

BRKTRJ Release brake when running a trajectory.

Engage under all other conditions.

Turns servo off when the brake is engaged.

Many SmartMotors are available with power safe brakes. These brakes will apply a force to keep the shaft from rotating should the unit lose power. Issuing the BRKRLS command will release the brake and BRKENG will engage it. There are two other commands that initiate automated operating modes for the brake. The command BRKSRV engages the brake automatically, should the motor stop servoing and holding position for any reason. This might be due to loss of power, a position error, limit fault, over-temperature fault, etc..

Finally, the BRKTRJ command will engage the brake in all of the previously mentioned circumstances, plus any time the motor is not performing a trajectory. In this mode the motor will be off, and the brake will be holding it in position, perfectly still, rather than the motor servoing when it is at rest,. As soon as another trajectory is started, the brake will release. The time it takes for the brake to engage and release is on the order of only a few milliseconds.

The brakes used in SmartMotors are zero-backlash devices with extremely long life spans. It is well within their capabilities to operate interactively within an application. You need to be careful not to create a situation where the brake will be set repeatedly during motion. That will reduce the brake's life.