Dusty Robotics, Delta Robot Control, and More

The May 2025 edition of Motion Control News includes the most recent PMD news, resources, and announcements.

In this edition of Motion Control News:

Dusty Robotics Case Study
Dusty Robotics provides an essential bridge between a building’s design and its construction. The ION/CME N-Series Motion Control Drive from Performance Motion Devices gives Dusty’s team the control needed for precision automated operation. Dusty Robotics’ FieldPrinter autonomous mobile robot requires precise control to enable layout accuracy for construction customers. PMD’s ION/CME N-Series Motion Control Drive is instrumental to the robot’s position accuracy of 1/16 of an inch. PMD’s N-Series drives give robotics engineers essential insight and access to internal control parameters needed to customize and troubleshoot. The N-Series is a compact, PCB-mountable single-axis controller that provides high-performance motion control, network connectivity, and amplification in a tiny footprint.
Delta Robot Control
Delta robot control means control of a three-axis ‘delta’ mechanical linkage capable of high-speed pick and place operations. Since its invention in the 1980s the delta robot has found adoption in a number of applications including food processing machinery, packaging equipment, electronics manufacturing, automated assembly equipment, dispensing machines, sorting equipment, pharmaceutical production, 3D printing and more.

Mathematics of Motion Control Profiles
Motion control engineers spend hours optimizing tuning parameters for their servo-based motion controllers. But what if they are using stepper motor controllers? And what if, no matter how much time they spend on tuning, they can’t get the performance they want? The answer, for many motor control systems, is to focus on the motion profile instead. Advanced profiling features such as asymmetric acceleration and deceleration, 7-segment S-curve profiling, change-on-the-fly, and electronic camming are now widely available, providing engineers with new tools that make machines work faster and more efficiently. This article will take you through the mathematics of motion profiles and discuss which profiles work best for which applications. It will also provide insights into how to “tune” your motion profile for maximum performance.