The design of an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) calls for the integration of many functional elements: a navigation system, a safety and environment awareness system, a power system including battery and battery charger, and the all-important mobility function, often controlling a motor at each wheel.
It’s enough of a challenge just to get each individual system to work reliably and in line with the machine’s specification. On top of that, the AMR manufacturer has to integrate them so that they operate together in harmony.
The wide range of components required to implement the AMR’s functions, such as brushless dc (BLDC) motor control, power conversion, image sensing, position sensing and communications, could lead many robot OEMs to compile a bill-of-materials populated with devices from tens of component manufacturers, with no guide to their successful integration.
Not, however, those OEMs that choose a solution set from onsemi. As the video shows, onsemi does not just supply many of the important components found in an AMR: it has actually built its own, fully functional AMR demonstration design.
This means that development teams building a new AMR or refining an existing design can follow the example set by the onsemi design team, using the onsemi block diagram as a guide to which components can be successfully combined in an AMR.
The onsemi AMR brings together highly capable products from across many of the categories of component operating in an AMR. They include:
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An ECS640A ecoSpin™ BLDC motor controller at each wheel (read more), supported by NTMFS5C604NL MOSFETs in the motor power stage, and the NCS32100 inductive position sensor (read more)
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The FAN65008B synchronous buck regulator, suitable for 48 V battery charging thanks to its 4.5 V to 65 V operating range
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LED drivers for indication and warning lights, such as the NCL31000 (request a board) intelligent LED driver and the NCV7685 12-channel linear LED driver
For a smoother development process, a streamlined bill-of-materials and a faster time-to-market, onsemi is the AMR designer’s choice. To learn more, click here.